In Thomson, IL, both local and state officials are trying to sell a new, barely-used correctional facility to the federal government so it can take in 100 Guantánamo detainees from Cuba. Governor Pat Quinn and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, both Democrats, say the conversion of the Thomson Correctional Center to federal use would create 3,000 new jobs for rural northwestern Illinois, where unemployment tops 10%.

 

But the fact that next year is an election year has turned the issue into a partisan one, with GOP candidates for Congress and governor blasting Democratic incumbents for trying to import terrorists into the state.

 

Supporters of Thomson also have to deal with competition from other towns hungry for new employment. In Marion, the longtime federal prison is being pushed by officials as another possible home for Guantánamo prisoners, and the federal super-max facility in Florence, Colorado, home already to 30 convicted terrorists, is also a candidate. Meanwhile, officials in Hardin, MT, are urging Washington to consider their brand new, empty correctional facility when it comes time to shutter the U.S. naval prison in Cuba.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Officials Discuss Plans for Gitmo Inmates in Ill. (by Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press)

Jobs Trump Terrorism Fears for Thomson Residents (by Matt Williams, GateHouse News Service)

House Majority Doesn’t Trust Supermax Prison Guards (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Ill. City Would Welcome Terror Detainees (by Jim Suhr, Associated Press)

Al-Qaeda Terrorists in U.S. Prisons? They’re Already Here (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)