Some Guantanamo Inmates to Move to Stateside Prison
VOA News 15 December 2009
An Obama administration official says the federal government is to acquire a state prison in rural northern state of Illinois to house about 100 detainees from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A formal announcement is expected Tuesday.
Officials say President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to acquire the Thomson Correctional Center as part of efforts to close Guantanamo.
In the small town of Thomson, some 220 kilometers west of Chicago, the 1,600-cell prison was built in 2001 to house maximum security inmates, but is nearly empty.
For months, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and U.S. Senator Richard Durbin have been promoting a federal purchase of the prison, saying it would create thousands of badly needed jobs in the area.
Village president Jerry "Duke" Hebeler recently told VOA the move would give a much needed boost to local economy, bringing some 3,000 jobs and an estimated $1 billion in revenue over four years. While some residents welcome the move, others have expressed serious concerns about suspected terrorists being housed in the prison.
President Obama signed an order days after taking office in January to close Guantanamo within a year. But he has recently acknowledged that the deadline will not be met.
The plan to close the Guantanamo detention facility has been met with fierce opposition by some congressional lawmakers who oppose bringing alleged terrorists into the United States and trying them in U.S. courts. Guantanamo, which now houses some 200 inmates, has been harshly criticized by human rights advocates for the alleged abuse and mistreatment of the detainees.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
