Three teens remain in captivity at Guantanamo. Their release was recommended this past August, but they are still there. Two arrived in January, 2002 and one later.

Human rights advocates say the U.S. military should long ago have released the boys, between the ages of 13 and 15, but detention mission commander Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said this week their freedom is being held up at higher levels.

Soldiers guard them day and night, never shutting their bedroom doors and monitoring them on wide-angle mirrors on the walls. The bathroom remains open, a small curtain covering part of the doorway for privacy.

....The teenagers are generally respectful, and are considering becoming a religious cleric and a doctor, Sgt. P said. The guard, a middle school teacher in civilian life, said he has never seen the boys cry.

....The teenagers have a refrigerator stocked with apples, oranges, pears and dates. Those who cooperate get snacks and extra movie time. Those who don't are sent to their rooms for "time out."

None have lawyers. No charges have been filed against them. But "they are still interrogated from time to time, officials said."

"We're concerned that a prolonged separation from their families may cause a deterioration in their mental health," said Jo Becker, of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch...."We were told six months ago that the U.S. government was aware that the detention of children was problematic," said Alistair Hodgett of Amnesty International. "Nothing has happened in their case."

"They are no longer a threat to U.S. interests," said Army Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a spokeswoman.

Yet, they aren't the only teens at Guantanamo. Others are being housed with adult inmates. This is abominable. There should be total physical, sight and sound separation of juveniles from adult inmates. Studies show children confined or mixed with adults are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, and twice as likely to be attacked with a weapon than when they are confined in a more appropriate, juvenile facility. In 1994 alone, 45 children reportedly died while in confinement in state adult prisons or detention facilities -- including 12 murders and 16 suicides.

Moreover, children who survive being mixed with an adult population are more likely to re-emerge much more hardened and dangerous. And most of these children will, at some point, be coming out of incarceration to be placed back into society. Without serious rehabilitation efforts, which are bound not to occur in a mixed facility, they will pose an even greater threat to society. Recidivism rates are much higher for children transferred to an adult system than they are for those retained in the juvenile justice system.