To Be, or Not To Be: Eleventh-hour Political Maneuvering Jeopardizes the Thomson Prison Sale to the Bureau of Prisons

By Tom Kocal

UPDATE 12-22-10

NO show at the auction to sell the prison.

In a not-so-surprising political shell game, a defense bill introduced late Wednesday night (Dec. 15) by House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., essentially created a loophole that would allow the Obama administration to bypass language in other pending legislation that prohibits the transfer of detainees to the United States.

And now, the 2011 federal budget that included funding to the Bureau of Prisons for the proposed purchase of the Thomson Correctional Center from the State of Illinois is on hold until March 2011 - after the lame duck session. There was no bipartisan support for the 1,924-page spending bill proposed by Democrats. Several Republicans who had at first agreed to support the budget abruptly changed their minds, killing the legislation.

Basically, Senate Republicans decided late Thursday to scuttle the $1.1 trillion spending bill, turning their backs on billions of dollars in earmarked projects that they had initially introduced.

Here’s what happened . . .

Skelton’s bill would have allowed transfers if the administration submitted a comprehensive plan to Congress that would include an assessment of the risk that an individual detainee poses to U.S. national security and certification by the Justice Department, and that doing so poses little or no risk to the United States.

Additionally, the authorization bill created a path to buy the Thomson Prison, or construct a new prison inside the United States to hold terrorism suspects. The bill stated that the administration must present a comprehensive plan to Congress for doing so.

Until a plan is submitted, no funds can be used.

“The construction or modification of any facility in the U.S. to detain or imprison individuals currently being held at Guantanamo must be preceded by a thorough and comprehensive plan that outlines the merits, costs, and risks associated with utilizing such a facility,” the House committee stated.

On Friday, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin responded with a form letter, received from a Shannon resident and forwarded to this paper.

Durbin claimed that “closing Guantanamo and transferring fewer than 100 detainees to the Thomson facility will help us show the world that the values we hold dear as Americans - freedom, human dignity, and the rule of law - continue to guide us regardless of the challenges we face, and that staying true to those values will ultimately make our troops and our nation safer . . . Despite the erroneous claims of some who oppose the plan, we can safely incarcerate detainees in Thomson.”

“I thought all along that the Gitmo detainee issue was dead,” State Senator Tim Bivins complained. “Sen. Durbin issues this statement that claims ‘up to 3,800 jobs will be created, including both direct federal jobs at the prison and indirect support jobs in the region.’ First, it was estimated at 3000 jobs, then 3200, now it’s up to 3800. I calculated about 750 to 800 jobs at the prison, but creating 3000 indirect support jobs? I challenge that.

“Durbin has stated that there would be federal prisoners in Thomson by the end of the year. Well, there’s not much time left. I just wish he would be straightforward. Looking at his letter, he most certainly is not.”

Show me the money

“This is Sen. Durbin’s standard response based on the President’s actions a year ago,” said Rich Carter, Director of Communications for U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo. “However, as you know, Congress has voted consistently this year to prohibit the GITMO terrorists from coming to Thomson. Plus, Congress has not appropriated the $350 million the Dept. of Defense says it needs to bring the terrorists to Thomson. Congress has the final say as to whether the terrorists can come to Thomson, and Congress has resoundingly said no.”

It was a full year ago, on December 15, 2009, that the Administration announced that the federal government would purchase from the State of Illinois the Thomson Correctional Center, an unused, state-of-the-art maximum security prison that has been a huge waste of Illinois taxpayer dollars since 2001. The plan was for the Bureau of Prisons to operate the facility as a new federal prison, since Congress voted consistently this past year to prohibit Guantanamo Bay detainees from coming to not only Thomson, IL, but anywhere in the United States.

With these terms in mind, the bipartisan Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability endorsed the sale of the Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government Bureau of Prisons.

But last week’s political power plays in the lame duck session have now jeopardized the prospect of the state facility becoming a federal prison that is expected to reduce unemployment in the area.

“A complete prohibition on the transfer of detainees to the U.S. could seriously impede our ability to prosecute these individuals and other suspected terrorists, and the president’s ability to protect national security in the event of circumstances that require the transfer of these individuals should not be limited,” according to a statement from the House committee.

A report from NationalJournal.com, referenced in a statement by Illinois freshman Senator Mark Kirk, stated, “Congressional appropriators surprised and angered the White House when the last-minute spending measures they introduced to keep the government operating next year included a prohibition on bringing Guantanamo prisoners to the United States. Such a ban would prevent President Obama from closing the Guantanamo prison, which has been a centerpiece of his national security strategy, as well as an oft-repeated campaign pledge.

Last week, the House passed a Continuing Resolution to pay for government operations for the rest of the fiscal year that includes an outright ban on detainee transfers to the United States. Senate appropriators included the ban in an omnibus spending bill they introduced earlier this week, but with one critical caveat -- the prohibition on detainee transfers to the United States can be superseded by an enacted Defense authorization bill.

Kirk didn’t like that ploy one bit.

“Instead of providing Congress with a clean Defense Authorization bill that could win overwhelming bipartisan support, Speaker Pelosi buried a provision in the House defense bill that permits bringing Guantanamo terrorists to the United States,” Kirk said in a press release Friday morning. “Such a provision would weaken the security of our country. Therefore, should the Defense Authorization bill come to the Senate with the Gitmo terrorist transfer provision included, I will place a hold on the bill and would seek to strike the provision, restoring the current law that bans bringing Gitmo terrorists to the homeland.”

The bill was defeated late Friday, blocking detainees at Thomson, or any other federal facility.

State Senator Mike Jacobs didn’t mince his words when it came to Kirk’s comments.

“I was shocked by Sen. Kirk’s statement,” Jacobs said Monday. “I don’t understand anybody being afraid of these detainees. We should lock them up - in Thomson - and throw away the key. This fear-mongering and anti-American pessimism bothers me. There’s not a terrorist alive that could escape from Thomson. Let’s not be afraid of our own shadows.”

Nobody knows what’s next

With the impending sale of the prison at auction in Chicago Dec. 21, the question is whether or not the funds are secured for the Bureau of Prisons (BoP) to bid on and buy the prison at Tuesday’s auction.

“We don’t know,” Carter told The Prairie Advocate. “The Continuing Resolution passed by the House last week had significant increases in the BoP budget we felt could have been used to purchase Thomson. The same funding was in the Senate omnibus bill, but Senator Reid pulled the omnibus bill from the floor (Dec.16) after he said he didn’t have enough support to proceed. So, we are not sure what the Senate is going to do on it.”

Neither does the Bureau of Prisons. Tracy Billingsley, a spokesperson for the BoP, said Monday that she had absolutely no information, but that the “Bureau of Prisons is still very interested in obtaining the Thomson Correctional Center to help alleviate our overcrowded conditions.” Billingsley added that they intend on staying in close contact with the State of Illinois officials after Tuesday’s auction.

Illinois Representative Jim Sacia feels a bit more confident - in a round-about way - after conversing with Gov. Quinn’s office.

“I don’t believe there will be a bid placed at Tuesday’s auction. The auction is simply part of routine state procedure. After the appraisal process, if no one makes an offer, the state has to hold an auction, with a minimum bid based on the appraised value. If no bids are presented at auction, then negotiations have to begin.

“I am preparing legislation as we speak that will give Gov. Quinn the authority to enter into negotiations with the federal government if the feds don’t come up with the $219 million at auction.”

Sacia said that this action may seem like the state is “tipping their hat” by suggesting that they would accept less money that the minimum bid. That is not the case.

“I am confident that the House will allocate the needed funds,” Sacia stated, “but I also don’t want to be in the same situation we were in during the Blagojevich impeachment process. We attempted to sell some surplus property, but there was no legislation in place that would allow for negotiations.

“These negotiations have to take place. The governor is aware of my efforts. I don’t want a ‘fire sale’ with the prison, nor do I want to give it away. But it is costing this state a lot of money just sitting there. I just want it sold, and I want to be ready and able to negotiate.”

Sen. Jacobs agreed. “Gov. Quinn told me personally that the auction is just another formality in the process of selling the prison. Don’t get excited about what happens Tuesday at the auction. It is the state’s intent to sell it to the federal BoP.”

Jacobs didn’t stop there, making sure he made his point about Sen. Kirk’s comments.

“Really, Kirk’s comments are full of phony rhetoric. I doubt if he’s even been to the prison, and I invite him to stop in and visit. This area is highly economically depressed. Kirk’s constituents in Northwestern Illinois want it opened. Serve them. Quit being an obstructionist.”

The Prairie Advocate made several attempts to contact Sen. Kirk’s office, but had no return calls at press time.

Read all about it . . . more updates will be posted on line as the PA learns more.

Being a weekly newspaper means that there is one news deadline - Monday evenings. The Prairie Advocate will be monitoring the process at the public auction of the Thomson Correctional Center on Tuesday, December 21, 2010, at the Belandic Building in downtown Chicago, at 10:00 a.m. By this time Tuesday, The Prairie Advocate will have been printed and distribution begun.

But we have the internet and The Prairie Advocate web site for times like these. Go to www.pacc-news.com for a complete follow-up from the proceedings, with more in the Dec. 29, 2010 issue.