{"id":444438,"date":"2010-03-18T13:26:55","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T17:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0120a9500fc0970b"},"modified":"2010-03-18T13:26:55","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T17:26:55","slug":"feds-buying-thomson-prison-regardless-of-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/444438","title":{"rendered":"Feds buying Thomson prison regardless of use"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Tribune Washington bureau<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Feds buying Thomson prison regardless of use<\/h2>\n

The prison in rural Thomson, Ill., could hold detainees at
\nGuantanamo Bay, but federal authorities want it regardless of that.<\/h3>\n

By Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to purchase a state prison in rural
\nThomson, Ill., regardless of whether Congress allows terrorist suspects
\nto be transferred there, a Department of Justice official said today.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn a letter to a member of the Illinois delegation to Congress, Asst.
\nAtty. Gen. Ronald Weich spelled out the administration’s intent to go
\nahead with plans to buy the near-empty Thomson prison, even if lawmakers
\n refuse to approve its use as a new home for detainees at the
\nmilitary-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nAt the very least, Weich said, the federal Bureau of Prisons intends to
\nuse the facility for high-security federal inmates. The letter comes in
\nresponse to questions from Rep. Donald Manzullo, the Republican who
\nrepresents the area in Congress.\n<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice has asked for $237 million in next year’s
\nbudget to buy and begin operating the facility in Thomson. It also has
\nthe option of requesting funds sooner than that to upgrade the security
\nprovisions at the prison and prepare it for its intended use.
<\/br><\/p>\n

\n
<\/br>
\nPresident Obama has directed the agency to buy the facility "to fulfill
\nboth of the goals of reducing federal prison overcrowding and
\ntransferring a limited number of detainees out of Guantanamo," Weich
\nwrote in the letter. The Thomson prison is critical to Obama’s plan to
\nshut down infamous Guantanamo prison, which administration officials
\nconsider to be a recruiting tool for anti-American extremists worldwide.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nHowever, the department "would be seeking to purchase the facility in
\nThomson even if detainees were not being considered for transfer there,"
\n the letter says.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nSuch an assurance could ease some objections to the Thomson purchase by
\nmembers of Congress. Some are worried about the political and security
\nfallout of moving terror suspects to a domestic site. Unless Congress
\nchanges current law, Guantanamo inmates couldn’t be transferred to the
\nU.S. for any purpose other than trial.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nYet that accommodation could raise concerns from local and state
\nofficials anxious for the jobs that would come with the expanded use of
\nthe facility. The Department of Defense detainees within the prison
\nwould account for an estimated one-third of the prison population.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nManzullo has voiced support for opening the Thomson Correctional Center
\nas a federal prison because it would provide jobs for the area. He has
\nsaid he has "serious reservations" about moving Guantanamo detainees
\nthere.
<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Tribune Washington bureau: Feds buying Thomson prison regardless of use The prison in rural Thomson, Ill., could hold detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but federal authorities want it regardless of that. By Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to purchase a state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., regardless of whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}