U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
says there is continued commitment to open Thomson Correctional Center
in Northwest Illinois, a prison that has sat mostly vacant since it was
built in 2001.
A
timeline for the opening of Thomson has not been released yet, though.
Funding for the necessary updates for the prison to meet federal
standards is contingent on the president’s FY 2014 budget, which has not
yet been submitted.
“When President Obama releases his
budget in the next few weeks, it should include funding for prison
activation,” said Durbin in a press release. “Over the next few months, I
will be working with Congresswoman Bustos to ensure that opening
Thomson prison – and bringing jobs and economic activity to Northwest
Illinois communities – remains a priority.”
Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close seven state corrections and juvenile
justice facilities, including Tamms super max prison, is in serious
jeopardy after Circuit Court Judge Charles Cavaness sided with AFSCME
yesterday and issued an injunction to stop the shut downs.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and assistant Senate
majority leader, announced Tuesday that the Obama administration will
purchase the unused Thomson prison from the state of Illinois for $165
million.
Durbin hailed the acquisition as an instance of
collaboration between Gov. Pat Quinn and the U.S. Justice Department
Federal Bureau of Prisons. “This historic action will lead to the
creation of hundreds of construction jobs and over 1,000 permanent jobs
at this facility,” Durbin said in a statement.
Cheri Bustos, the
Democratic nominee in the 17th congressional district that includes the
village of Thomson, said the sale was “great news because there should
be no higher priority than putting people in our district back to work,”
in an e-mailed statement.
While the agreement might indeed prove a boon
to an economically troubled region, it emerged out of exasperation with
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia), chairman of the House appropriations
subcommittee that controls the Justice Department budget. Read more »
Dueling letters fired off by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) indicate that Illinois will not
complete a sale of the unused Thomson Correctional Center in Carroll
County anytime soon – thanks largely to Wolf’s ill will toward Attorney
General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.
In a sweeping four-page missive
(PDF) to Durbin Friday that begins with quoting Simon & Garfunkel’s
“The Boxer” (“Man hears what he wants to hear…and disregards the
rest”), Wolf explained that his problem is not with the senator. “I don’t
want this situation to develop into a ‘Durbin v. Wolf’ battle,” he added.
Instead, Wolf's gripe is with Obama's alleged abuse of power.
Also,
despite assurances to the contrary, Wolf writes that Guantanamo
detainees may end up in Thomson or another federal facility. “I do not trust this
administration not to acquire Thomson to make room in other high
security prisons to transfer detainees to the U.S," Wolf wrote.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said under oath
before a Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday what he has said for well
over a year – that the dormant prison in Thomson, Illinois the federal Justice
Department wants to buy would never hold detainees currently at
Guantanamo Bay.
Instead, the facility, built by the state
government in 2002 only to languish, will house federal inmates. According to the claims by Illinois Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration, and village of Thomson, use of the prison in such a capacity would revive a downbeat
local economy.
Yet one lawmaker has evidently stopped the
conversion of Thomson Correctional Center to a Federal Bureau of Prisons operated facility: U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (pictured), a Republican from Virginia. “The matter has
been discussed and debated for over a year,” said U.S. Senator Dick
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat at the Senate committee meeting. “It was
held up by one Republican Congressman.” Read more »
Most Congressional observers these days have been following bills related to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the DREAM Act, and the START Treaty. Lost in the lame duck shuffle is the apparent end to a promise President Obama made on his first day in office -- the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As part of the defense authorization bill -- the one that did not include a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and was passed in the House on Friday -- was a ban, pushed by Republican members of the Illinois delegation, on the transfer of the detainees, which would last until the end of September, 2011.
Sen. Mark Kirk threatened to put a hold on the authorization bill unless it prohibited the transfer of the Gitmo detainees, and vowed to oppose repeal of DADT unless the ban was in place. (In the end, Kirk voted to put an end to DADT.) The reason for the outcry from Kirk is, at least in part, because it has long been the administration's plan to move the prisoners to the vacant Thomson Correction Center in the Northwest area of the state, a move that conservatives have claimed would bring "Jihadists" to the Prairie State.
The news, which seems to doom any chances of shifting the detainees to the mainland where they would receive due process, is coupled with the state's failed attempt to auction Thomson. That was supposed to happen this afternoon, but there was a bit of a problem -- no one showed up. It's looking like Thomson is going to remain vacant for a long time.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and assistant Senate
majority leader, announced Tuesday that the Obama administration will
purchase the unused Thomson prison from the state of Illinois for $165
million.
Dueling letters fired off by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) indicate that Illinois will not
complete a sale of the unused Thomson Correctional Center in Carroll
County anytime soon – thanks largely to Wolf’s ill will toward Attorney
General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.
Most Congressional observers these days have been following bills related to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the DREAM Act, and the START Treaty. Lost in the lame duck shuffle is the apparent end to a promise President Obama made on his 
Sen. Mark Kirk 