Illinois prison: Guantanamo relief option

by Christi Parsons

A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday.

As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago.

With Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea, federal prison officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees.

"This has emerged as a leading option," an Obama administration official said late Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

The official wouldn't say how many of the detainees could transfer to Illinois, describing it only as a "limited number." The official also wouldn't say whether the administration envisions Thomson as the sole domestic prison for the former Guantanamo detainees.

Officials are contemplating the details--including how they would persuade Congress to change a law that bars Guantanamo detainees from the U.S. unless they're here for trial.

If Obama can manage that, the Illinois prison could figure prominently in the complicated matrix for closing the infamous prison. Guantanamo has become a worldwide symbol of unpopular U.S. anti-terror and detention policies, and ordering its closure was President Obama's first act in office.

The shutdown has proven easier said than done, however, mainly because of the difficulty of finding other places to incarcerate the more than 200 people currently detained there. The Obama administration has appealed to allies around the world to house some of them, a request complicated by significant political opposition to accepting any of the detainees on American soil.

See the full Tribune exclusive on the Illinois prison eyed for Guantanamo prisoners by Christi Parsons of the Washington Bureau, with Julian Barnes, in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:

But officials in a handful of towns around the country have expressed interest in hosting such a federal prison, a prospect some remote areas welcome as a means of economic development at a time of hardship.

The Mississippi River town of Thomson, on the Illinois border with Iowa, has suffered more than most. In 2001, the state completed construction of the $120 million complex, a maximum-security institution to house its most dangerous inmates. A tightening state budget crisis has left the prison practically unused for eight years, though. The prison has 1,600 cells yet holds only 144 inmates.

Thomson Village President Jerry Hebeler was among the first to publicly raise the idea of housing Guantanamo detainees there, telling an ABC reporter in Chicago that, as prison management goes, "they can't be any worse than any murderer."

In a letter to Gov. Quinn recently, Hebeler made a more general case for selling the institution to the federal government, which already operates a prison in the downstate Illinois town of Marion.

"If the Illinois Department of Corrections has no need for this facility, perhaps the federal government would be interested in locating a prison similar to the one in Marion," Hebeler wrote to Quinn in an open letter published in local newspapers.

"After eight years of living in limbo, we are open to any and all alternatives," Hebeler wrote.

The plea found an audience in the state capital. Quinn has made $1 billion in cuts to his state budget in recent months, carrying out the task in part by sending layoff notices to Illinois prison employees.

Quinn recently discussed the prison with Obama, his fellow Illinois Democrat. Obama was a member of the Illinois Senate both when Thomson was built and as lawmakers realized they couldn't afford to fully open it.

At the same time, a Guantanamo task force, led by the departments of Justice and Defense, was conducting a review of federal and state prisons that might be suitable for the detainees.

The prison is surrounded by a 12-foot exterior fence and 15-foot interior fence, which includes a two-sided electric stun fence, Quinn pointed out in a follow-up letter to Obama's secretary of defense and attorney general this week.

"I understand that you are still considering other options," Quinn wrote in the letter, obtained by the Tribune Washington Bureau, "but the federal Bureau of Prisons would be hard-pressed to find a similar facility with such extensive safety and security measures already in place anywhere in America.

"As plans are being formulated to potentially move federal prisoners and to locate a limited number of detainees in the United States," he went on, "we stand ready to provide you with any assistance as this process moves forward."

Now the federal Bureau of Prisons is looking into purchasing the site and running it as a federal institution. The bureau would also lease a portion of the prison to the Defense Department to house "a limited number of Guantanamo detainees," the official said.

The early glimmer of support from Quinn and Hebeler could help Obama navigate the obstacles ahead, but only if it is the precursor to a more sweeping local response.

Congressional opposition has been a looming obstacle for Obama as he contemplates the Guantanamo closure, because current law says Guantanamo detainees can only be moved to the U.S. for "purposes of prosecution."

A strong show of support from residents and officials--and particularly from the Illinois delegation in Congress--could make the plan viable.

"Barring some sort of plan, the law won't change," one congressional staffer said Friday, hours before the administration official confirmed the plan in an interview with the Tribune's Washington Bureau. "And a lot of it depends on the location they choose."

Widespread resistance in and around Thomson would likely have the opposite effect, and give fuel to national Republicans who oppose closing Guantanamo as a matter of policy.

One sign of a possible fight to come was a statement put out Friday afternoon by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a candidate for the Senate. The statement came well before word of the Thomson plan, but after the administration announced that the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four alleged co-conspirators will stand trial in a federal courtroom in New York City. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others are currently being held at Guantanamo.

Mohammed is "one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world," Kirk said in the written statement. "His release or ability to communicate with the outside world would likely result in harm to more Americans. ... At best, key Sept. 11th conspirators will be in U.S. jails, free to convert other inmates to the cause of jihad against America. At worst, key leaders will be freed while jurors and prosecutors fear reprisal by Al Qaeda followers who seek to harm their families."

As they continue to explore the Thomson possibility, administration officials aren't saying how many Guantanamo residents could go there. But the number would probably exclude Mohammed and the other four. In addition, dozens of detainees have been approved for transfer to other countries.

In an afternoon briefing about the Mohammed decision, a senior Defense official alluded to the ongoing search for Guantanamo alternatives.

"I think we are making good progress toward closing Guantanamo, finding a new location," the Defense official said.

Later in the day, a different administration official identified Thomson as a leading option.

There are currently 340 inmates linked to domestic or international terrorism in the federal prison system, the official said, including 35 currently incarcerated in Illinois. The official also noted that Ali al-Marri, an Al Qaeda agent who studied at Bradley University in Peoria, is serving time in Marion.

At Thomson, the official said, the former Guantanamo detainees would remain separated from the general prison population at all times.

If the project moves forward, the official said, the bureau would enhance the perimeter security measures at Thomson to exceed those at the nation's only federal super-maximum security prison in Colorado from which "no one has ever escaped."

Julian E. Barnes contributed to this report from Washington.