Published: November 16, 2009 09:41 am      

Thomson bound?

Officials to visit Thomson to gauge prison’s ability to house terror detainees

MOLINE, Ill. — Federal officials will visit the Thomson, Ill., Correctional Center today to determine if it is fit to hold terror detainees being transferred from Guantanamo Bay.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Thomson Village President Jerry “Duke” Hebeler and several state lawmakers held a press conference at the Quad-City International Airport on Sunday to make the announcement.

Both Durbin, D-Ill., and Quinn dismissed any security concerns about retaining fewer than 100 Guantanamo transfers in the Carroll County town located about 12 miles north of Clinton on the other side of the Mississippi River.

Durbin noted there have been zero escapes from maximum security prisons in the U.S. and cited the southern Illinois town of Marion, which houses some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals, as an example of a city whose resident’s feel safe.

The remarks were in response to claims from several Illinois Republicans who have voiced concerns about locating Guantanamo detainees in a town 150 miles west of Chicago.

Hebeler agreed with Quinn and Durbin and said the jobs that would come to town if the prison were selected could cut the unemployment rate in half.

“I would never chase jobs if I thought it would jeopardize the security of my neighbors,” said Hebeler, who wrote a letter to Durbin promoting the eight-year-old underused prison. State Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, said he had not heard any concerns from constituents about holding accused terrorists in Thomson. He added the number of jobs created by the federal government would greatly outnumber anything state officials could generate.

Quinn called the plan an “opportunity of a lifetime” and Durbin said the measure could bring in more than 2,000 jobs and potentially inject more than $1 billion into the local economy during the first four years of operation.

“This is an opportunity you just don’t see,” Durbin said. “Those of us who’ve been to (Thomson) know the struggle that’s going on.”

How long before officials decide if Thomson will be selected is unclear but Quinn said he expected a decision within a reasonable amount of time.

Officials in Hardin, Mont., Florence, Colo., and Marion, also have said they would welcome Guantanamo inmates.

If named, the federal Bureau of Prisons would purchase the facility and it would house other federal inmates. The part housing the Guantanamo Bay prisoners would be leased to the Defense Department, Durbin said.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said his greatest concern was making sure guards in Thomson would be able to work at the federal facility. Some guards who were hired to work at Thomson have been transferred to other correctional facilities throughout the state.

Illinois built the 1,600-cell prison in 2001 for a cost of $140 million. It was never fully opened because of state budget problems. About 200 minimum-security inmates are housed there.