Havana, Cuba ? A U.S. Army colonel arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday to investigate allegations that guards at the prison abused detainees, a military spokesman said.

Col. Richard Basset, who is based at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami, was appointed after Marine Sgt. Heather Cerveny said in a sworn statement that guards she met in a Guantanamo bar last month spoke of hitting detainees and denying them water. She said the guards described it as common practice in the prison where about 450 detainees are held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Cerveny is a paralegal for Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, an attorney for a Guantanamo detainee. Vokey filed a complaint to the Pentagon’s Inspector General’s office alleging that detainee abuse was ongoing at the prison.

Basset will conduct interviews for up to a month on the isolated detention center in southeast Cuba, command spokesman Jose Ruiz said by telephone from Miami. He has authority to interview any member of the military Joint Task Force that runs the prison regardless of rank.