RRSTAR.COM STAFF REPORTS
Posted Dec 14, 2009 @ 10:57 PM
Last update Dec 15, 2009 @ 07:53 AM
It's official.

Guantanamo Bay detainees are coming to Illinois.

Federal administration officials, joined by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn, will make the official announcement today at the White House, according to The Associated Press.

Over the weekend, a draft memo was leaked to the press identifying the Thomson Correctional Center, a sparsely used state-of-the-art maximum security state prison as the proposed site. President Barack Obama reportedly has directed the government to acquire the prison.

Thomson is a Mississippi River community of about 560 people in Carroll County about 70 miles southwest of Rockford. A spokesman for Durbin's office said the facility would house federal inmates and no more than 100 detainees, a little less than half of the 215 detainees being held in Cuba.

Jobs sought
Thomson residents and state officials, have lobbied for the Obama administration to bring the detainees to Thomson as well as the 2,000 to 3,000 jobs that would be created if the prison is made fully operational.

Split opinions
State Rep Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, who represents Thomson, could not be reached for comment late Monday night, but he has spoken candidly about his desire for the feds to bring the detainees to Thomson.

"If we pass up this opportunity, I think we're buffoons," he said. "We have a state-of-the-art facility designed as a maximum-security prison that is the second-largest expenditure for a building in the history of the state of Illinois. It has been sitting mostly vacant for eight years.

"We have an opportunity to bring 2,000 to 3,000 good jobs to Illinois, and the prison would be doing exactly what it was intended to do. If President Barack Obama is going to do this, we are literally idiots if we don't pursue this opportunity."

U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, has stated otherwise:

"Gitmo is set up to house these dangerous terrorists, and they should stay there.
"We believe the Gitmo stigma would just be moved to Thomson, and they would have to rely on the small military contingent to protect the prison. Even at 100 detainees, the government officials told me that this would be the largest concentration of terrorists in the U.S."

1,600 cells mostly unused
The 625,000-square-foot Thomson Correctional Center sits on 146 acres and is a Level 1 facility with 1,600 cells for adult males.

It also has a 200-bed minimum-security unit, the only portion of the prison being used. The $140 million prison is enclosed by a 12-foot exterior fence and 15-foot interior fence, which includes a dual-sided electric stun fence.

Supermax status planned
Before the detainees are transferred, the prison's security level will be increased to supermaximum-security level, putting it on par with the federal supermax facility in Colorado, which holds al-Qaida members and other terrorists. There have been no escapes from that prison.

Closing Guantanamo is a top priority for Obama, and he signed an executive order hours into his presidency directing that the process of closing the prison begin.

Obama has said he wants terrorism suspects transferred to American soil so they can be tried for their suspected crimes.

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