By News Channel 3
newsline3@kesq.com
WASHINGTON - A correctional center in the small town of Thomson in the state of Illinois might be used to house Guantanamo Bay detainees, giving some residents hope they might bring more jobs to the area.
A White House official said over the weekend that the Obama administration may buy a near-empty prison in Thomson, a farming community about 150 miles west of Chicago, to house to house those detainees with other federal inmates.
The maximum-security Thomson Correctional Center was one of several evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and emerged as a leading option to house the detainees, the official told The Associated Press.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mary Bono Mack of Palm Springs, announced her opposition to the bill (H.R. 2294). In a press release sent to News Channel 3, she said, "Like Americans across the country, I am outraged by the Administration's plan to bring some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world to the United States to benefit from the protection of a flag they sought so hard to destroy.
"It is unacceptable that months after the 'deadline', a clear plan still isn't in place to ensure our national security will not be compromised by such a careless maneuver.
President Barack Obama wants detainees from the controversial military-run detention center in Cuba to be transferred to US soil so they can be prosecuted for their suspected crimes.
The prison was built in 2001 with the promise of thousands of jobs.
But because of state budget problems, it has been largely vacant since its completion. It has 1,600 cells, but only about 200 minimum-security inmates are held there.
Dick Whitmore, a Thomson resident who lives near the prison, said he can see the prison's appeal to federal authorities.
"We went through the prison, we've seen how it operated. There's nobody getting out of that place," he said.
But appeal for its maximum security potential aside, many Thomson residents like Whitmore aren't sure what to make of the idea that some of the United States' most wanted criminals may soon be neighbors.
Whitmore said ever since the possible plan was announced, it's been all the talk in his local bait shop.
But supporters of the idea - including Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn - insist security around the Thomson facility would be among the tightest in the country.
And they say selling a prison in the state's rural northwest is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs in the struggling area.
Lawmakers said they were told in a briefing from the Pentagon and the federal Bureau of Prisons that between 450 and 500 new employees would be hired at 37,000 US dollars to 47,000 US dollars a year at Thomson if it received
That's something many local residents support.
"We've got a perfectly good prison sitting there. Why not use it? It's got to get used for something," said Thomson resident Shawn Hovious.
"These terrorists have proven that they will stop at nothing to destroy the values and freedoms we hold dear. The American people deserve to be heard; we do not want to bring these dangerous criminals to American soil or into our court system."
