Life in Prison at the Communications Management Unit

Life in the CMU Prison

Communications Management Unit at Terre Haute Federal Prison

Aref is in the Communications Management Unit (CMU) at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The CMU was opened in December, 2006 and is almost entirely composed of Muslims, including Dr. Rafil Dafir, a US citizen from Iraq who was convicted of violating the pre-2003 sanctions against Iraq by sending charitable contributions to a group called Help the Needy.

The CMU inmates’ communications with the outside world are severely restricted – they cannot even have contact visits with their own young children, but can only see them through glass and speak to them through a telephone.

There are many complaints alleging arbitrary and discriminatory practices at the CMU, as well as spoiled food and lack of medical treatment. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plans to investigate the facility. In October, 2007 Yassin Aref wrote an account of the conditions at the CMU which was published on AlbanyWeblog and other websites.

Yassin at Ray Brook FCI

After Yassin was sentenced, and before he was taken to the CMU, he was kept in solitary confinement at Ray Brook, a Federal Correctional Institution in the Adirondacks. Read of his horrifying incarceration here.

Visiting the Dentist - 11-14-07

Who is incarcerated at the CMU?

Most of the prisoners at the Communications Management Unit are Muslim or Middle-Eastern men.

Here is a partial list, compiled as of November 11, 2007. The list was created by comparing names of people on a 2005 list of 'terrorism-related" cases on the WashingtonPost.com website and comparing those names to the names of people at the BOP (Federal Bureau of Prisons).

List of prisoners at the CMU as HTML

List of prisoners at the CMU as PDF

Photos from Prison

From left to right,
Hatem Fariz, Yassin Aref, and Enaam Arnaout.

From left to right, standing, Enaam Arnaout, Mukhtar al-Bakri, Tahipassa, and Abi Khali. Sitting is Hatem Fariz, Mamoud and Yassin Aref.

Yassin Aref is standing, second from left.