--- title: Guantanamo Bay Closure: PETA Offers Gitmo Proposal description: A prominent animal rights group is calling for the White House to turn the Guantanamo Bay detention facility into an "empathy center" canonical: https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-25T13:24:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:22:29.430Z article:section: Politics og:title: Guantanamo Bay Closure: PETA Offers Gitmo Proposal og:description: A prominent animal rights group is calling for the White House to turn the Guantanamo Bay detention facility into an "empathy center" og:url: https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abdf57a3733aa8c/69887f21ab6d771a176a8958/guantanamo-gitmo-peta.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Guantanamo gitmo peta og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Guantanamo Bay Closure: PETA Offers Gitmo Proposal twitter:description: A prominent animal rights group is calling for the White House to turn the Guantanamo Bay detention facility into an "empathy center" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abdf57a3733aa8c/69887f21ab6d771a176a8958/guantanamo-gitmo-peta.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # PETA Calls for Guantanamo Bay to Become 'Empathy Center'  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 25, 2016 1:24 PM UTC  This photo made during an escorted visit and reviewed by the US military, shows the razor wire-topped fence at the abandoned "Camp X-Ray" detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This photo made during an escorted visit and reviewed by the US military, shows the razor wire-topped fence at the abandoned "Camp X-Ray" detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Mladen Antonov—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 25, 2016 1:24 PM UTC Animal rights group PETA is calling for the Obama administration to turn the Guantanamo Bay detention facility into an [“empathy center”](http://www.peta.org/blog/could-guantanamo-bay-become-petas-empathy-center/) focused on teaching the “justice, respect, understanding, and compassion for all living beings.” Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said in a letter to the official overseeing the closure of the prison that the exhibit could highlight both human and animal abuse over time, according to a _USA Today_ [report](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/24/peta-wants-close-guantanamo-turn-into-animal-empathy-center/80880026/). “The closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility represents an opportunity to turn a symbol of torture and injustice into a place of peace and understanding for people of all cultures and nations,” Newkirk said in a statement posted to PETA’s website. The call comes just days after the White House [announced plans to close the prison](http://time.com/4233690/guantanamo-barack-obama-closure-close/) located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba that currently houses suspected terrorists. Obama had promised during the 2008 election to shut down the Guantanamo prison if elected, but failed to present a viable plan to do so. PETA, one of the better known animal rights groups, has frequently used [high profile news stories](http://time.com/3976578/peta-cecil-lion/) to bring attention to their efforts. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/"},"headline":"PETA Calls for Guantanamo Bay to Become 'Empathy Center'","datePublished":"2016-02-25T13:24:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:22:29.430Z","description":"\"A place of peace and understanding for people of all cultures and nations”","url":"https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Terrorism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abdf57a3733aa8c/69887f21ab6d771a176a8958/guantanamo-gitmo-peta.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abdf57a3733aa8c/69887f21ab6d771a176a8958/guantanamo-gitmo-peta.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Guantanamo gitmo peta","caption":"Guantanamo gitmo peta","creditText":"Mladen Antonov—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4237067/peta-guantanamo-bay-prison-obama/","name":"PETA Calls for Guantanamo Bay to Become 'Empathy Center'"}}]}] ```