$900,000 per inmate per year at Guantanamo is the cost to US taxpayers.  President Barack Obama cited this $900,000 per inmate cost as one reason to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center-- but Obama also first promised to close the center during his campaign for the 2008 election.

The fact that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay burns through $900,000 annually for each inmate makes it the most expensive prison on Earth. The Pentagon released a spending estimate of about $150 million each year in order to operate the the Guantanamo Bay prison at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. The prison currently holds 166 inmates in custody and was set up in 2002 to detain foreign terrorism suspects.

Ken Gude, chief of staff and vice president at the Center for American Progress think tank, says of the $900,000 per inmate price tag for Guantanamo "It's extremely inefficient. That ... may be what finally gets us to actually close the prison. I mean the costs are astronomical, when you compare them to what it would cost to detain somebody in the United States," Gude said.

The average cost of all inmates at federal prisons in the US is about $30,000 per inmate per year. Super-max prisons cost $60,000 to $70,000 annually.

Obama said last week that Guantanamo, which is widely criticized, is a stain on the reputation of the United States and again promised to try to close the prison. And in the face of sequestration, a cost argument may make sense. The government is planning to cut $109 billion in spending and is cutting many services.

According to Reuters, the $900,000 per inmate spent annually at Guantanamo is the equivalent of "12 weeks of White House tours for the public"; "keeping open the control tower at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport for 45 months";  and "matches the funding for nearly seven states to help serve home delivered meals to the elderly" via Meals on Wheels-- all of which have currently been cut due to sequestration.

From the current 166 inmates at Guantanamo, only nine have been charged with or convicted of crimes. Over half have been cleared for transfer or release; another 47 are not being charged for any crimes yet considered too dangerous for release, and the remaining 24 are considered "eligible for possible persecution", according to Reuters-but have not yet been charged. Inmates began a hunger strike in February. About 100 prisoners are currently participating; 23 prisoners have now been force fed. 

Each inmate, even those who have been cleared for years, continues to cost about $900,000 per year.