US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will tomorrow make his first visit to Camp X-Ray - the US naval base detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 150 alleged Taliban and al Qaida members are being held.
Mr Rumsfeld's visit comes following a week of international criticism over the treatment of the prisoners.
Yesterday, US senator Mr James Inhofe, who toured Camp X-Ray, said many of the men being detained at the US naval base were likely to be returned to their home countries but that no decision had yet been made by the Bush administration.
Conditions at the base have been eased after the storm of criticism, with a Muslim chaplain brought in to lead prayers for the men and arrows pointing in the direction of Mecca painted on the floor of the cages they are being kept in.
And prisoners will no longer wear black-painted goggles when being transported by plane.
The practice had led to accusations that guards were inflicting sensory deprivation on the prisoners as they were being transported.
Mr Rumsfeld will tour the facility tomorrow and see preparations to accept more prisoners, with a series of new cells being built to hold more detainees.
He will also discuss the interrogations of the prisoners which started on Wednesday.
The men do not have access to lawyers and the possibility remains that they will face the death penalty after trial by military tribunal.
PA