Camp Five Echo Camp Five Echo is a once secret " disciplinary block " built as part of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp s , in Cuba . The press first reported on the existence of the camp in December 2011 when attorneys for Shaker Aamer , who had been held at the camp for extended periods of time , complained that conditions there were inhumane . According to Carol Rosenberg , writing in the " Miami Herald " the camp is used to punish captives . Like Camp Platinum , Camp Strawberry Fields and Camp No , Camp Five Echo had never been mentioned when journalists and other visitors are given tourts of the internment facility . Construction history . Rosenberg reported the camp was constructed in November 2007 , on the grounds of Camp Five . However , unlike Camp Five and Camp Six , which are copies of prisons designed for the United States Bureau of Prisons , Camp Five Echo is built out of recycled shipping container s . According to Rosenberg a February 2009 report prepared by Admiral Patrick Walsh , on overall compliance with the Geneva Conventions , described the camp as " “ an open air facility with 24 individual adjoining steel mesh cells arranged in two parallel and equal rows . ” " Walsh wrote that captives were first held in Camp Five Echo in April 2008 . Rosenberg wrote that she did not know when the mesh walls were replaced with steel plates . A military spokesman said the cells in “ Five Echo ” are only half the size of the ones in Camp Five , but he asserted this was still within the acceptable range of sizes . Like the original Camp Xray the cells were equipped with a squat toilet . Water for washing was via a tap in the wall — captives had no wash basin . Captives , like Shaker Aamer , have told their attorneys that the solid steel walls made it practically impossible for them to talk with one another . Rosenberg reported she had recently learned the cost and other details of the camp in an email from camp spokesperson Commander Tamsen Reese . The camp cost $ 690 , 000 . Walsh ' s report said that captives had been first held in the camp in April 2008 . Use . Admiral Walsh ' s report said the camp was first used on April 28 , 2008 . Attorney David Remes who said that , in addition to Shaker Aamer , two more of his clients were sent there , said the condition in the camp violate the Geneva Conventions and called it " a throwback to the bad old days at Guantánamo . " Aamer had been held in solitary confinement in the camp for over 100 days when camp authorities revealed its existence . Colonel Donnie Thomas , commander of the camp ' s guards , said the Camp Five Echo was " " . . . safe , humane and meets all the regulations . " " While he declined to say what kinds of infractions caused captives to be sent to Camp Five Echo , he did say where they were held was based on their compliance with camp rules , " " Quite frankly , detainees make the determination where they live . " " Shortly after Aamer ' s four and half month stay in the camp triggered the publication of the photo , Thomas said that the camp was currently empty , but declined to say at that time when it had last been used . Camp rules only permit captives to be kept in solitary confinement for a maximum of thirty days . Another of Aumer ' s lawyers Ramzi Kaseem , said Aamer described the condition as " abysmal " , " the squat toilet is difficult to use , there are foul odors , bright lights shine on detainees , and air conditioners keep it extremely cold . " , " It is decrepit , filthy , and disgusting " . Aamer also told Kaseem the cells were not large enough to pray . In an article marking the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo internment facility Rosenberg reported tensions were high . Captives were planning a hunger strike . Captives reported camp authorities had " " instituted a new 25 - day punitive segregation regime for rule breakers in a cramped cell at the once - secret Camp 5 Echo . " " In May 2012 Kassem reported that the controversial sleep deprivation technique known as the frequent flyer program was being used as a punishment technique in Camp Five Echo .