Obama administration proceeds with controversial prison purchase (max security in Illinois)

[alp227]

Last edited Tue Oct 16, 2012, 12:25 AM - Edit history (1)

The Obama administration has decided to buy the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois to house high-security federal inmates, and promises the facility will not be used for terror detainees currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said the Justice Department filed paperwork in federal court in Rockford, Illinois, on Tuesday to buy the prison from the state for $165 million dollars. The government may spend approximately $25 million dollars to make renovations. The cost estimate to construct a new prison is approximately $400 million dollars.

Durbin called the move a good deal for his state and for the federal government.

"This historic action will lead to the creation of hundreds of construction jobs and over 1,000 permanent jobs at this federal facility," he said.

Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter on Tuesday to Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, chairman of a House appropriations subcommittee dealing with Justice Department funding. Wolf fought the move by the federal government to acquire Thomson. Holder said the prison is being purchased to help alleviate severe overcrowding in Bureau of Prisons facilities.

full: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/02/politics/illinois-prison/index.html

[frazzled]

1. It will NOT house former Gitmo detainees

Jeebus, it says that in the first sentence you quote from the article. And if you remember, Congress passed a law in 2009 that prevented any US prisons from being used to house Guantamo prisoners. That's why Obama couldn't close Guantanamo, as he planned. And there is nothing controversial about the purchase.

This was a VACANT prison, unused. The government needs a federal maximum security prison, and this empty one was costing the state a lot of money.

The Bureau of Prisons, meanwhile, still needs cells for maximum security inmates. And Illinois desperately needs those 1,100 jobs — so badly that 10 of the state's 11 Republican congressmen recently sent a letter to the governor, urging him to practically give away the prison so the feds could get it up and running.

A functioning Thomson would pump $200 million a year into the local economy, they said, and we don't doubt it. But we're still irked at the suggestion that Illinois taxpayers should mark down their already discounted prison by another $100 million or so to get around a Virginia congressman with a rogue agenda. Credit Durbin and Quinn for refusing to back down.

This is a win-win deal: The feds get a bargain price on a state-of-the art prison, and Illinois will add all those jobs without forfeiting its investment. The only loser here is Rep. Frank Wolf.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-03/news/ct-edit-prison-20121003_1_thomson-prison-purchase-thomson-correctional-center-feds-move

[alp227]

2. Fixed. Was speed reading and missed that part.

i searched Du for this story didn't find it and then based on reading the old threads assumed the gitmo detainees would be in the prison.