Saturday, April 27, 2013

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The claim: This city located in Northeast Indiana has a FEMA designated detention facility, accessible by air, road and nearby rail.

What it really is: Where exactly is this FEMA designated detention facility? Fort Wayne is a fairly large city, and there are lots of large buildings there too, anyone of which can be mistaken for a FEMA camp.

Terre Haute, Indiana

The claim: Federal Correctional Institution, Satellite prison camp and death facility. Equipped with crematoria reported to have a capacity of 3,000 people a day. FEMA designated facility located here.

What it really is: Yes, this facility is the home to Federal Death Row (in fact Timothy McVeigh was executed here) what is not true is that there being a crematoria here.

Everyone who is executed has to have an autopsy on them, and are taken off site to have it done. Funeral arrangements are also done by the family of the executed, not the state, and if a body was to be cremated, it would be done at a private facility, not on site, thus there would be no need for a crematoria.

Also, for a crematoria to handle that many bodies per day, it would have to be pretty darn big and very obvious, and from what I have seen from satellite photos using Google maps, nothing at the facility looks like a crematoria.

Camp Atterbury, Indiana

The claim: Facility is converted to hold prisoners and boasts two active compounds presently configured for minumum security detainees. Located just west of Interstate 65 near Edinburgh, south of Indianapolis.

What it really is: It's a national guard training base, and despite the claims, there is actually very little there, and nothing that looks like two active compounds to hold prisoners in.

Crown Point, Indiana

The claim: Across street from county jail, former hospital. One wing presently being used for county work-release program, 80% of facility still unused. Possible FEMA detention center or holding facility.

What it really is: I'm not sure if the building that is being refereed to was a hospital or not, but I believe that the building that is being refereed to is the Lake County Alcohol & Drug, which is a rehab center.

Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana

The claim: Located in the northeast part of Indianapolis, this base has been decomissioned from "active" use but portions are still ideally converted to hold detainees. Helicopter landing areas still exist for prisoners to be brought in by air, land & rail.

What it really is: The base was closed in 1995. The site of the itself base has been redeveloped into residential neighborhoods, a golf course, and is the site of Fort Harrison State Park.

Despite the fact that the base was officially closed, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service - Indianapolis, as well as several Army Reserve and Indiana National Guard units are located there, and the National Guard opened a new training facility there in 2011.

Indianapolis / Marion County, Indiana

The claim: Amtrak railcar repair facility (closed); controversial site of a major alleged detention / processing center. Although some sources state that this site is a "red herring", photographic and video evidence suggests otherwise. This large facility contains large 3-4 inch gas mains to large furnaces (crematoria??), helicopter landing pads, railheads for prisoners, Red/Blue/Green zones for classifying/processing incoming personnel, one-way turnstiles, barracks, towers, high fences with razor wire, etc. Personnel with government clearance who are friendly to the patriot movement took a guided tour of the facility to confirm this site. This site is located next to a closed refrigeration plant facility.

What it really is: The actually facility that is being talked about is in Beech Grove, and despite what is claimed, the facility is not closed.

The facility itself is quite large (which is necessary to for railcar repair) and contains several large buildings, so having three to four inch gas lines would not be that strange, because they would be needed to power furnaces to keep the buildings heated during the winter.

The other claims appear to be nothing than misinterpretations of necessarily security measures, or (as with the claims of helicopter landing pads and razor wire) bogus.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Kingwood, West Virginia

The claim: Newly built detention camp at Camp Dawson Army Reservation. More data needed on Camp Dawson.

What it really is: Camp Dawson is a West Virginia Army National Guard training camp that opened in 1909.

There are a few large and newer buildings there, but none of them look like something you would find at a prison camp.

Mill Creek, West Virginia

The claim: FEMA detention facility.

What it really is: A bogus claim.

Looking at the area via Google maps, other then the local elementary school and a couple of industrial buildings, I can't find anything that would even come close to looking like a prison camp, and even these places would be hard to mistake...

Morgantown, West Virginia

The claim: Federal prison camp located in northern WV; just north of Kingwood.

What it really is: it's a minimum security Federal prison that holds 1,140 inmates.

Beckley - Alderson - Lewisburg, West Virginia

The claim: Former WWII detention camps that are now converted into active federal prison complexes capable of holding several times their current populations. Alderson is presently a women's federal reformatory.

What it really is: Alderson was opened in 1928. It is minimum security, it has always been a Federal prison for women.

The Federal prison in Beckley is medium security with a minimum security prison camp.

There are no prisons in Lewisburg at all.

Also, none of these places were the sites of World War Two POW camps.

South Central part of state, Nebraska

The claim: Many old WWII sites - some may be renovated.

What it really is: It is a very vague claim that actually doesn't really tell anything, nor give an exact location.

Northwest, Northeast corners of state, Nebraska

The claim: FEMA detention facilities - more data needed.

What it really is: Most likely bogus.

The lack of information, plus actual locations, indicates that this was just made up.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

The claim: WWII German POW camp (renovated?).

What it really is: There was a POW camp there that closed in 1946. There isn't much information about the camp, but from what I have found, there is probably nothing left of it anymore.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sedona, Arizona

The claim: site of possible UN base.

What it really is: A bogus claim.

Using Google maps I took a look at the area. There is nothing there that resembles a UN or any other type of military base.

Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson), Arizona

The claim: Fully staffed and presently holding prisoners!!

What it really is: There is no prison or internment camp there. It would also be very hard to hide such a facility since the base is surrounded by houses and businesses.

Wickenburg, Arizona

The claim: Airport is ready for conversion; total capacity unknown.

What it really is: The Wickenburg Municipal Airport is a public airport with only one runway. If it was being made ready for conversion, it would have been noticed by far more people.

Florence, Arizona

The claim: WWII prison camp NOW RENOVATED, OPERATIONAL with staff & 400 prisoners, operational capacity of 3,500.

What it really is: Using Google maps I took a look at the general area where the prison camp was (which was north of the city), and there is nothing there except some farms and some houses.

Now there are in fact two prisons located in Florence (the Arizona State Prison Complex – Eyman, and the Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence) both of which are run by the Arizona Department of Corrections and not the federal government.

Phoenix, Arizona

The claim: Federal Prison Satellite Camp. Main federal facility expanded.

What it really is: FCI Phoenix is a medium security prison for male offenders, with minimum security prison camp for female offenders. the prison holds 1,180 prisoners, with 300 in the prison camp.

I've also taken a look a photos of when the after the prison was built and the prison today. The claim that the prison has been expanded is false.

Yuma County, Arizona

The claim: Colorado River - Site of former Japanese detention camp (near proving grounds). This site was completely removed in 1990 according to some reports.

What it really is: The most likely internment camp this is being refereed to is the Poston War Relocation Center, which is located in what is now La Paz County (although it had been part of Yuma County until La Paz in 1983).

Several of the buildings there are still in use today, but many others are either deteriorating, or have been removed. Much of the residential areas have also been converted in agricultural use.

Pinal County, Arizona

The claim: on the Gila River - WWII Japanese detention camp. May be renovated.

What it really is: The Gila River War Relocation Center, located in the Gila River Indian Reservation was shut down in 1945. Most of the structures that were there are long since gone. Public access to the site is restricted because the land is own by the Gila River Indian Tribe, and the land is consider sacred to them.

Ft. Huachuca, Arizona

The claim: 20 miles from Mexican border, 30 miles from Nogales Rex '84 facility.

What it really is: The army base is headquarters of the Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS), and other tenants include the NETCOM/9th Signal Command (A), the United States Army Intelligence Center Joint Interoperability Test Command, Information Systems Engineering Command (ISEC) and the Electronic Proving Ground. The base is also home to the Western Division of the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center (AATTC).

The base itself was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1976. The base also contains two museums (the Fort Huachuca Museum and the US Army Intelligence Museum) as well as being the late summer training grounds for the Arizona Wildcats.

In other words, the base is accessible to the public.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania

The claim: Federal prison camp, north of Reading.

What it really is: It's a medium security prison that has a minimum security prison camp. The prison holds 1,330 inmates, with 340 in the prison camp.

New Cumberland Army Depot, Pennsylvania

The claim: on the Susquehanna River, located off Interstate 83 and Interstate 76.

What it really is: It's an Army base that employs 3,000 civilian personnel and 100 military personnel.

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

The claim: State prison close to Army depot. Lots of room, located in Camp Hill, Pa.

What it really is: The prison that is being refereed to is called the State Correctional Institution, Camp Hill

The prison houses 3,400 inmates. While there are many buildings there, I wouldn't say that there is lots of room because the buildings are pretty tightly packed together. In fact there has been over capacity problems at the prison in the past, which may have been one of the factors that lead to a major riot at the prison in 1989.

Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania

The claim: located north of Harrisburg. Used for WWII POW camp and renovated by Jimmy Carter. Was used to hold Cubans during Mariel boat lift.

What it really is: The base is a National Guard training center, and is controlled by the Pennsylvania National Guard.

It is true that the site was used as a POW camp, and was used to hold Cuban refugees after the Mariel boatlift. What is not true however is that there is a prison camp there. I've taken a look at the site using Google maps, and there is nothing there that looks like a prison camp.

Allenwood, Pennsylvania

The claim: Federal prison camp located south of Williamsport on the Susquehanna River. It has a current inmate population of 300, and is identified by William Pabst as having a capacity in excess of 15,000 on 400 acres.

What it really is: There's actually three Federal prisons there, not one.

The first is a low security prison that can hold 1,450 inmates, a medium security prison that can hold 1,400 inmates, and a high security prison that can hold 1,000 inmates. That's a total of 3,850 inmates, which is almost four times less than what is claimed the prisons can hold.

Also, William Pabst has been making claims about this sort of stuff since the 1970's, and he has been described by some people as being unhinged, so any information from him should be considered unreliable.

Camp Ripley, Minnesota

The claim: new prison facility.

What it really is: It's a training base for the Minnesota National Guard, the Department of Natural Resources Enforcement Center, and hosts the Minnesota State Patrol Academy. The site also hosts the Minnesota Military Museum and annual deer hunts.

Also, after looking at the site using Google maps, I can find nothing there that looks like a prison.

Duluth, Minnesota

The claim: Federal prison camp facility.

What it really is: There is a Federal prison camp in Duluth. It is minimum security and holds 800 prisoners.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Lansing, Michigan

The claim: FEMA detention facility.

What it really is: There are several urban renewal projects happening around the city, some of these projects may be mistaken as a FEMA camp to people who think that FEMA camps are real.

Southwest - possibly Berrien County, Michigan

The claim: FEMA detention center.

What it really is: This is obviously a bogus claim. Whomever made this claim can't even give a relatively close location.

The claim is clearly made up.

Bay City, Michigan

The claim: Classic enclosure with guard towers, high fence, and close to shipping port on Saginaw Bay, which connects to Lake Huron. Could be a deportation point to overseas via St. Lawrence Seaway.

What it really is: I've taken a look at the city via Google Maps, and despite it's name, there is no shipping port at Bay City, unless of course you count the public marines and a couple of privately owned piers. Other then that and a maybe a few industrial centers, there is nothing there that resembles the claim.

Sawyer AFB, Michigan

The claim: Upper Peninsula - south of Marquette - No data available.

What it really is: This Air Force base was closed in 1995 and in 1999 became the Sawyer International Airport.

Camp Grayling, Michigan

The claim: Michigan Nat'l Guard base has several confirmed detention camps, classic setup with high fences, razor wire, etc. Guard towers are very well-built, sturdy. Multiple compounds within larger enclosures. Facility deep within forest area.

What it really is: Using Google Maps I've taken a look around the area of the camp, and the only buildings that I can find that comes even relatively close to what resembles the claim are some private businesses and churches off base and some recreational areas.

Ft. Devens, Massachusetts

The claim: Active detention facility. More data needed.

What it really is: The base was closed in 1995, but was reopened in 2007 as an Army Reserve installation.

While there isn't a Federal prison there, there is a Federal Medical center there that handles male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care.

Camp Edwards / Otis AFB - Cape Cod, Massachusetts

The claim: This "inactive" base is being converted to hold many New Englander patriots. Capacity unknown.

What it really is: This base is a training center for the National Guard, and is not inactive.