[1] In practice, the facility could house approximately 120–150 inmates in living arrangements ranging from squadbays (for the general population) to Special Quarters 2, which is effectively solitary confinement.
The Pretrial Confinement Facility at MCB Quantico was permanently closed on December 31, 2011,[4] as part of cost-cutting measures recommended by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
[6] Over the years, there were some prominent inmates at the Brig, including John Hinckley, Jr., a would-be presidential assassin, Clayton J. Lonetree, the Marine Security Guard who provided classified information to the KGB while stationed at the U.S. Embassy, Moscow from 1984 to 1986, and Rayful Edmond, largely credited with introducing crack cocaine into the Washington, D.C., area.
After Chelsea Manning (convicted in 2013 of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, including the 250,000 diplomatic cables, video of the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike, and footage of the Granai airstrike) was transferred to Quantico in July 2010, numerous allegations of abuse arose, including isolation, the use of maximum-security custody and suicide watch for punitive reasons, and other non-violent harassment by the guards, such as forced nudity.
[7][8][9][10][11] Though military officials denied abuse (including an incident where State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley was forced to resign[12][13]), the hacker group Anonymous threatened to disrupt activities at Quantico by cyber-attacking communications, exposing private information about personnel, and other harassment.