Michigan lawmakers look to Gitmo for stimulus

[babylonsister]

Michigan lawmakers look to Gitmo for stimulus
By Walter Alarkon
Posted: 07/23/09 08:19 PM


Lawmakers from Michigan are considering a novel kind of stimulus for their state’s struggling economy: Guantánamo Bay detainees.

Democratic members in the House and Senate have said that Michigan prisons set to close because of a state budget crunch could take the high-profile prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, which President Obama has vowed to shutter by early next year.

They see hosting the prisoners as saving or creating jobs in a state devastated by the decline of the U.S. auto industry. Michigan’s unemployment rate of 15.4 percent is tops in the nation.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D), the first Michigan lawmaker to float the idea, said housing prisoners would maintain jobs, and both Sen. Carl Levin (D) and Rep. Dale Kildee (D) said they could take in the Gitmo detainees in Michigan prisons as long as nearby residents and state and local officials agree to it.

“I would tend to agree with the local community,” Kildee said.

Still, it’s unclear whether Michigan will ever become Guantánamo North.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/michigan-lawmakers-look-to-gitmo-for-stimulus-2009-07-23.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. How about just closing down, the amount of prisoners and or prisons in this country should be

an embarrassment to sane americans...its proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it is all about the profits and it's more than sickening..

[blue_onyx]

2. It would be fine with me

If the government needs a facility to hold people, MI has plenty of empty ones. MI gets to keep jobs and the federal government solves a problem, as well.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. We can certainly use the work and the money

but I don't know if conditions here would be any better than Guantanimo Bay. Maybe worse, if the prisoners don't appreciate snow and temps below zero in the winter.

Also, I'm not sure how we house prisoners long term if they have never been convicted of anything. That may present problems when the prisoners sue for their release.

Due process aside, it'd be a nice windfall. :sarcasm:

[Romulox]

4. It will NEVER happen. BTW, notice how reluctant they are to shut down prisons?

even when they've got no prisoners? They promptly start seeking out new ones, proving quite handily what the main emphasis of our system of "criminal justice" is focused on ($$$).