Gitmo Prisoners’ New Digs?

Posted on Dec 6, 2009

AP / Charles Rex Arbogast

An aerial view of Illinois’ Thomson Correctional Center, near the Mississippi River.

A deal is being brokered that would probably make a state prison in rural Illinois the new home of detainees now held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay. Republicans have voiced outrage at the prospect of bringing the detainees Stateside, citing security threats. —JCL

The Washington Post:

Despite opposition from congressional Republicans, the Obama administration is signaling that a state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., will probably become the new home for scores of terrorism suspects now housed at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Officials from the White House, Defense Department and U.S. Bureau of Prisons spent two hours last week briefing more than a dozen members of the Illinois congressional delegation in the office of Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). To reassure skeptical Republicans, they emphasized security.

Although the officials left open the possibility that another site could be chosen, participants emerged from the session convinced that the U.S. government will buy the largely unused $145 million Thomson Correctional Center, which was built in 2008.

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