Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin want the White House to make clear that no detainees from Guantanamo Bay will be brought to an Illinois prison originally intended to help close Gitmo.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin want the White House to make clear that no detainees from Guantanamo Bay will be brought to an Illinois prison originally intended to help close Gitmo.
Quinn told reporters Thursday that Durbin, D-Ill., will ask the White House for a letter making clear the detainees would not be sent to the state prison at Thomson, Ill., about 150 miles west of Chicago.
The state still owns the Thomson facility because an Obama administration request for $170 million, which includes money to buy it, is tied up in Congress.
Quinn says the letter would help clear the way for the sale, which has faced opposition in Congress.
A 1,600-cell prison, Thomson would be converted by the federal government into a maximum-security facility.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Photo Caption: This Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, shows an aerial view of the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson , Ill. The latest round in the political fight that has blocked the Obama administration from bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees into the US is playing out in the federal budget.The Justice Department is requesting $66.9 million to house regular federal inmates at a shuttered Illinois prison that it originally intended to use for detainees as part of the plan to close the Guantanamo facility. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
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