"The facts are that they do have TV's in their cells. "
A 12- inch black-and-white TV in each cell shows closed-circuit classes in psychology, education, anger management, parenting and literacy. Religious services of numerous denominations are piped in from a small chapel, where prison officials display for the videocamera the religious objects appropriate for a given faith.
Well, yes, physically it is a TV but it's not like he will be watching the Jihadi Shopping Network.
Sure they access to their lawyers. I don't think he will get many of those visits though. Quoted from a Fox article, When asked in his interview with FOX News when he'd last spoken to Moussaoui, MacMahon replied: "I haven’t spoken to Mr. Moussaoui for a long time, and that's just fine with me."
"They can write and receive letters."
And I should hope that they are being screened closely over the last fiasco.
All this mess is why he should have been tried in front of a military tribunal instead of our legal system. As Kaslin said in an early post, to just put him to sleep like a vet is not punishment and would have given him what he wanted. Unless we were going to cut his head off and stuff him with pig sh*t, I suspect this will become his hell on Earth.
"You have no responsibilities. No bills. No taxes. All your basic needs are provided. For people willing to live in mountain caves, it's probably something close to luxury."
That is so weak. We're not talking about your average gang-banger here.
Simply because MacMahon claimed he didn't speak to Moussaoui for a long time and wouldn't care if he never did again: (1) doesn't make it true, and (2) doesn't mean some Islamic lawyer won't take the case for appeals, complaints, etc.
Even if there are no messages embedded in his letters, the letters, themselves, become tools for jihadist recruitment. That happened leading up to the Spanish train bombings.
I agree these people should be tried before military tribunals. However, we are such a weak, confused society that military tribunals will never happen unless the Supreme Court finally rules they are OK. Even then, they probably won't happen under most of the presidential wannbes floating around these days.
It is not weak to observe that all of Moussaoui's basic needs are met in prison. It is truth. Many, if not most of these jihadists are used to a spartan, monk-like life to begin with. They are accustomed to spending long hours in prayer. Without responsibilities to provide even for his basic necessities, someone who doesn't mind a life of solitude and prayer would probably find life in that prison quite bearable.