Unhindered: The detainees also appear free to exercise and talk together relatively undisturbed in the yard
Handcuffs line the wall of a tool shed in the camp
Big Brother: As if the fence was not enough, dozens of security cameras are also placed along the fence - along with watchtowers manned by armed guards
Dinnertime: The detainees are allowed to serve themselves from carts wheeled in to the detention centre
Anger: An inmate appears to let his temper get the best of him as the teacher walks him through the 'life lesson', where prisoners are taught skills such as resume writing
Heart of darkness: A guard watches over inmates as they attend the 'life lessons' at Guantanamo Bay in these images taken on March 29, 2010
Detention: One inmate, his hands free but his legs shackled to the floor, reads during the class as guards in protective clothing shackled another inmate to the ground behind him
Neighbours: One detainee pops his head in at the door of another's cell - blissfully blocking out the image of the leg shackles that had him chained to the floor just hours earlier
Barbed wire: The fence surrounding the exercise yard does not allow the impression of freedom to last
Despair: A gloved guard reaches for a detainee as he leans his head on the metal table
Transport shackles: After the classes, the detainees are frisked and chained to be taken back to their cells
They are scenes of tediousness rather than of terror or torture.
But the shackles and barbed wire imply the threat behind the boredom, as these never-before-seen images of life inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay show.
The inane round of exercise, packaged meals and 'life lessons' is now everything to these, the few remaining detainees - who have never been charged with any crimes - at Guantanamo.
Today fewer than 200 detainees are in custody at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, compared with about 780 who have been jailed within its razor-wire fences at some point.
Some of those who remain have been cleared for release by Pentagon review panels, but have not been repatriated for fears they could be mistreated in their native countries.
Others are considered among the highest-value terrorism suspects, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 attack.
In these images, the camp has an empty, leftover feel - as though the few who are left are simply waiting.
Despite the level of danger attached to them, they are allowed to associate freely in the exercise yard and pop their heads into each other's cells.
Their food is brought to them on a cart, carefully wrapped in plastic and with anything that could have been used as a weapon removed.
They attend 'life lessons', classes in which they are taught mundane skills such as writing a resume while chained to the cold metal floor by padded leg irons.
They are frisked as they are returned to their cells for another long night.
The pictures have all been approved by the U.S. military and seem surprisingly insipid - but the barbed wire, cameras, armed guards and shackles all belie the darker threat behind them.
Barack Obama has vowed to close Guantanamo Bay, an international blight on America's moral reputation.
The U.S. President called it a 'recruiting tool for terrorists' as critics demanded to know how Washington could reconcile torture and detention without trial with its message of peace and democracy.
But despite the obvious problems with leaving the camp open, Mr Obama has run into even bigger problems with trying to close it.
He has had trouble lining up help from other countries and even his own political party: Republicans and some Democrats have vehemently opposed moving terror suspects to U.S. soil, citing security fears.
The tribunal system for prosecuting terrorism suspects, which Mr Obama had put on hold for months, is expected to begin revving up this summer with modifications.
The next inmate scheduled for trial is Omar Khadr, a Canadian accused of killing an American solider with a grenade in Afghanistan when he was 15.
The Obama administration has said it wants to hold the detainees in an Illinois prison, but Congress first has to both approve the money to buy the prison and change current law barring detainees from entering the country for anything other than trial.
The president's self-imposed deadline to close Guantanamo passed in January. U.S. officials refuse to predict when the detention centre will get a new date for closure.
Meanwhile in Guantanamo, the chained prisoners exercise, talk, go to class - and wait.
