A nearly empty state prison in northwestern Illinois has emerged as a possible site to house detainees transferred from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, the Obama White House confirmed Saturday.
Gov. Quinn and Obama discussed the federal purchase of the Thomson Correctional Center when Quinn was in Washington on Nov. 4 and visited the White House. The Thomson complex—the Illinois Department of Corrections newest maximum security prison with 1,600 cells, costing $145 million to build in 2001--currently has zero inmates. The facility’s minimum security operation has about 200 inmates.
A White House source told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday that no decisions have been made and Thomson is one of "multiple options" being considered. If the prison is acquired by the federal government, it would be run under the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which would then establish a supermax facility, leasing a portion to the Defense Department for a "limited number” of Guantanamo detainees.
Obama, who may miss his target deadline of closing the controversial prison, established a Guantanamo Review Task Force, run by the Justice and Defense Departments, which has been evaluating maximum security facilities across the nation; the White House confirmed that Thomson is one of those options.
I know of a perfect place to house Gitmo terrorists. Gitmo.
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