The SHOCKING amount of money taxpayers are spending to keep 9/11 masterminds behind bars

The terrorists who committed 9/11 not only cost the United States thousands of lives, but also hundreds of millions of dollars to keep them captive.

A settlement that reached that would have kept them in prison for life without the possibility of the death penalty. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped in and pulled the settlement Friday night amid widespread ridicule.

The man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two of his accomplices agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and murder charges in exchange for a life sentence instead of the death penalty, prosecutors said this week.

After more than two years of negotiations and more than two decades of captivity, suspects Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi agreed to the deal, which was approved by a senior Pentagon official overseeing the war crimes tribunal.

In a shocking move, Austin not only pulled the deal, but also removed the head of the U.S. military commissions that approved the settlements from the 9/11 case altogether. The case now returns to legal limbo.

The masterminds behind the detention are housed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and it is unclear whether, if convicted, they will be moved to the notorious “supermax” prison ADX Florence in Colorado.

Regardless, their total captivity until their deaths is estimated to have cost nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money.

Guantanamo Bay prison has become increasingly secretive over the past 20 years, even as it costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

The Biden administration has signaled it wants to close the military prison in Cuba before it leaves office, reviving an Obama-era promise. Biden said this week he is “committed” to closing Guantanamo before he leaves office in January.

Congress blocked Obama’s efforts by banning prisoners from setting foot on the U.S. mainland.

Guantanamo has reportedly cost American taxpayers more than $7 billion since its creation.

According to a New York Times estimate, American taxpayers spend about $13 million annually on each prisoner. a 2021 report. There are currently 39 inmates in the prison.

That compares to the $78,000 spent per inmate at the “supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, which houses some of the highest-risk prisoners in the U.S.

The U.S. government has not been forthcoming about the total cost of locking up these alleged killers. According to an estimate by DailyMail.com, the total cost of locking up these killers over their lifetimes is over $750 million.

Assuming the $13 million cost remains in place to date, the five men who planned and helped carry out the attack have cost U.S. taxpayers $260 million in unclassified prison costs from 2021 to 2024 alone. They will likely remain in Guantanamo until 2025, as their sentencing hearing isn’t until next summer, another $65 million.

There will undoubtedly be additional secret costs, such as the presence of the CIA.

The cost per prisoner has skyrocketed as time has passed and fewer prisoners have been housed at the facility. In 2013, operating costs were only about $2.7 million per prisoner, meaning that from 2006, when the 9/11 masterminds were transferred to Guantanamo, through 2013, it cost taxpayers about $108 million.

Assuming costs between 2013 and 2021 were between $2.7 million and $13 million, the cost to prisoners is $320 million.

But from their arrest in 2003 until their arrival in Guantanamo in 2006, they were held in U.S. custody abroad, costing them millions there too.

For years, the U.S. has tried to close Guantanamo, once billed as “America’s smallest prison, reserved exclusively for suspected elderly jihadists.” The facility costs more than $500 million a year to operate.

Even some Democrats were unhappy with the available details of the now-swept deal.

“I have serious concerns about this settlement,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former trial lawyer, told DailyMail.com on Thursday. “I think we need to look at it very carefully.”

‘I think there are interests here that have not been pursued as honestly and aggressively as they should have been.’

According to local media, more than 150 of the nearly 3,000 victims of the horrific 9/11 plot were Connecticut residents. And Blumenthal joined them in calling for details of Saudi Arabia’s involvement to be released.

“I have defended the 9/11 families and their legal action against Saudi Arabia,” Blumenthal continued. “There is so much we don’t know here, and we have an obligation to tell the American people about the potential complicity, not only of these defendants, but of Saudi Arabia and other countries.”

The Democrat demanded that the White House explain the rationale for the deal.

“No explanation whatsoever. And they owe me and Congress an explanation. But more importantly, the 9/11 families and the American people.”

It is still unclear where the terrorists will serve their sentences. Joe Biden has wanted to close Guantanamo Bay, where they are being held, since he took office.

If the detention facility at the military base, known as Camp Delta, is closed, the inmates could be transferred to ADX Florence in Colorado, the only supermax prison in the U.S. that already holds 9/11 terrorists.

The operating costs of that prison in 2018 were $78,000 per inmate. Assuming inflation, that means it costs about $107,000 to house each inmate.

Two of the five suspects were not included in the deal. One, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was deemed unfit for trial due to a mental illness. Another, Ammar al-Baluchi, was allowed to stand trial alone.

If the three men involved in the plea deal were transferred there after conviction and allowed to live another 20 years, they would cost another $6.4 million. How long the other two would remain in Guantanamo is unknown.

All of these prison costs do not include the costs of prosecuting terrorists or the tens of billions the government pays out through a victims’ compensation fund.

In 2023 alone, the fund awarded $12.8 billion to more than 56,000 claimants — the families of those killed that day and those who developed cancer years later, allegedly from exposure to toxins on the day of the attack.