How Guantanamo Bay is preparing for a Trump presidency

This segment originally aired Dec. 16, 2016, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.

President Barack Obama promised on his third day in office to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but he never followed through. Now, with 15 days left before Obama leaves office, 55 prisoners remain.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to keep the prison open and reintroduce torture, although military leadership at Gitmo won’t discuss how they’d react if given that order.

“Right now, we’re planning to reduce the population and close this place down,” said Capt. John Filostrat, the detention facility’s director of public affairs. “But if we get an order to do the opposite, we’re prepared to do that as well.”

Of the 55 prisoners, 19 are cleared for transfer. But unless the Obama administration can find countries willing to accept the prisoners, they may never be released.