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Please Don't Quote Me If it had been the twenty-first century, Mary Melugin would have been bopping across the prairie with ear buds plugged into her head while lengthily texting or twittering more than the birds in the grove of trees she’d just passed. But it was only a few decades into the nineteenth century with little technology in everyday life. |
U.S. Senators Durbin & Kirk Urge Obama Administration to Open Thomson Correctional Center as a Federal PrisonAsk for clarification that no Gitmo suspected terrorists will be transferredBy Tom Kocal, PublisherMarch 18, 2011 – In an unprecedented Illinois bi-partisan effort, the second-ranked Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, and freshman Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, have sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, asking that the Obama administration give up its efforts to transfer suspected terrorist from Guantanamo Bay, and "focus its efforts on acquiring and operating Thomson (Correctional Center) as a maximum-security federal prison. This request comes 8 days after Sen. Kirk, Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan), and eight of their Illinois colleagues called on President Barack Obama to heed the bipartisan calls from Congress and abandon efforts to move terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo), or elsewhere abroad, to a vacant state-owned prison in northwest Illinois. The Prairie Advocate News received a copy of the letter from the office of Sen. Mark Kirk early this afternoon. The potential for terrorists from Gitmo being allowed to transfer to U.S. soil has been THE major stumbling block in the agreement between the State of Illinois and the federal Bureau of Prisons to open the vacated state prison as a federal penitentiary. State Sen. Mike Jacobs (D-Moline), in an interview March 3, confirmed that "there is an indication that I received from the president's office that we are very close to a final solution. That final solution may not look exactly how we hoped it would look like . . . it may not include Gitmo - (Congress) may bar Gitmo prisoners. But I believe that we'll see the prison sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $180-$190 million, and see some type of federal penitentiary." (March 9, 2011, "Jacobs Speaks Out on Thomson Prison Status...") Will the Thomson Prison finally open after ten years? This is the single-most bi-partisan, state and federal effort put together in the past decade. The letter to AG Holder follows.:
March 18, 2011 The Honorable Eric Holder Dear Attorney General Holder: We write today to ask you to clarify that the Thomson Correctional Center in Carroll County, Illinois, wi ll be opened and operated as a federal maximum security prison and will be used only for prisoners in the federal Bureau of Prisons system. In short, we seek your written commitment that no suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere overseas will be transferred to the Thomson Correctional Center so that Congress can focus its efforts on acquiring and operating Thomson as a maximum-security federal prison. As you know, the State of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Prisons continue to negotiate over the purchase of Thomson for use as a federal maximum security prison. Governor Quinn informed us during an Illinois Congressional Delegation meeting yesterday that both sides have made significant progress and that a purchase agreement is imminent. We strongly support this project as do other bipartisan members of the IIIinois/lowa Congressional Delegations. The sale of Thomson enjoys broad-based local and state support and will lead to significant job creation, more than 1,100 jobs, and economic development in the region. The Bureau of Prisons believes that the acquisition of Thomson will help alleviate serious federal prison overcrowding, currently running as high as 50 percent over rated capacity, and help increase the safety of the system's prison guards. We were pleased at the inclusion of nearly $67 million for second year activation costs for Thomson and its 1,600 cells in the President's Fiscal Year 2012 budget. This builds upon the President's Fiscal Year 2011 budget request of $237 million for the acquisition, upgrade and operation of Thomson in the federal prison system. As you know, Congress has not yet completed the current year spending bills and is operating under a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) in order to fund government operations. We will continue to work to include funding for the acquisition of Thomson exclusively for use as a federal maximum security prison. We look forward to your reply and clarification of the points outlined above. We stand ready to work with you to ensure that the federal government has the funds necessary to purchase and activate the Thomson Correctional Facility from the State of Illinois as soon as possible. Sincerely,
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