The Biden Administration released 11 detainees from Guantanamo Bay Prison on Jan. 6, who had been held for over twenty years without charge. The maximum-security prison is now at its lowest occupancy since it opened in 2002. The detainees will be transferred to Oman, where they will begin a new life.

The move aligns with the Biden administration’s goal to close the prison, which has faced criticism from human rights groups over the past decade, most recently in 2022. However, this objective appears unlikely to materialize in the coming weeks as his presidency comes to a close. 

After the transfer, 15 men will remain at Guantanamo: six who have never been charged, two who were convicted and sentenced, and seven others who were charged with involvement in terrorist incidents, including the 9/11 attacks, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia. The US is also reportedly in talks with the Taliban to swap a Guantanamo prisoner with ties to Osama bin Laden for three US citizens detained in Afghanistan.

Guantanamo originally gained fame after it became the destination for the mostly Arab detainees during the US “War on Terror;” a series of military endeavors in the Middle East that followed the 9/11 attacks. At its height, Guantanamo housed nearly 800 detainees. Yet despite its persistence to remain open and continued calls for its closure, the prison seems unlikely to return to its former capacity soon.