package
n.— «It rankles, however, that he was not able to have the inmates recognised as people. Mr Errachidi said: “Even the name detainee was not given to us. We were called packages because we were in identical jumpsuits and wrapped up in chains. Two guards would escort you everywhere, they would radio their control room and say, ’Package has been picked up’ and outside the interrogation room they would contact the interrogator and say, ’Package is at the door.’ If you ask why you are called a package, why you can’t be called a person they say, ’This is the procedure.’” The same procedures forbid the guards from telling the inmates what day or month it is.» —“The London chef who was forsaken for five years in Guantanamo” by Sean O’Neill Times (London, England) June 16, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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