12/29/2009 8:06:00 PM
For and against
Officials attend public hearing on Thomson Prison
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by Jay Dickerson
Local leaders joined other officials last week at the Illinois State Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability's public hearing on the proposed sale of the Thompson Correctional Center to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Held in Sterling Tuesday, Dec. 22, the event allowed supporters and opponents of the plan to state their concerns.
Michael Hastings, Jo-Carroll Energy, CEO, president, and chairman of the Tri-County Economic Development Alliance, Inc. (TCEDA) board of directors testified on the benefits of this opportunity to the region. Supporters say the plan will bring an economic boost to northwestern Illinois.
"I'm very happy that TCEDA got as involved as we did in this process," said Russ Simpson, TCEDA interim director. Simpson said that TCEDA members and supporters wore green T-shirts to show support.
"We rallied a lot of people to show up there in support," Simpson said. "There were a very large number of community leaders and economic development types."
Since this was a public hearing, there was no announcement of a schedule or a time frame for the purchase of the prison, although Harley Lappin, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, indicated that it could be a six-month process at minimum. "That includes recruiting, training and some amount of construction to help make it the safest supermax in the country," said Simpson.
While the time frame is uncertain, so is the number of prisoners the facility will take.
"There was a great deal of discussion about how many detainees and how they would be selected," said Simpson.
Illinois State Police officials were asked to conduct risk assessments for up to 150 of the detainees, but 100 seems a more realistic number, said Simpson.
"There were attempts to break down the estimates. . .what was military, what was prison guards," said Simpson. "There's still a lot of speculation." But these are jobs needed for the area, said Simpson. "I think people are saying, gee, if it's half of that, we'll take it."
"The highlight of the hearing was being able to hear all of the different perspectives being offered of why the plan is good, and why it's not," said Simpson.
Manzullo's reaction
U.S. Rep Don Manzullo said the Guantanamo Bay detainees who might be coming to Thomson are "around 100 of the most incorrigible combatants, who would receive no trial anywhere and would be incarcerated for an unlimited period of time. . .The people I represent need to know everything about moving Gitmo, including sleeper cells and rogue individuals acting to support Al Qaeda."
"To me, it seems very likely the existing hatred toward Guantanamo Bay will simply shift to Thomson," said Manzullo in a December phone conference with officials in the village of Elizabeth. Manzullo said officials have no way of estimating the extent of the threat, and that it's better "to keep Gitmo open until the last of the military combatants are disposed of, especially since taxpayers have spent tens of millions of dollars to built the state-of-the-art facility at Gitmo."
The process
Other officials wondered about the process itself.
"I think the entire process has been done with a complete lack of transparency," said Adam Andrzejewski, a Republican candidate for governor. Andrzejewski noted a particular absence from the hearing: Gov. Pat Quinn. "He's the single person in Illinois with the authority to sell the prison to the government. Gov. Quinn was not even there to hear the people of Illinois," Andrzejewski said.
And about two years ago, men and women from around the Thomson area were told the prison was going to open. They had six weeks of training. "And then they were told the decision changed," Andrzejewski said. "For the last year and a half, they've been scattered around Illinois."
Some officers stayed in Thomson, while many others were moved all throughout the state. The families have dealt with the distance. There have been divorces. "Their family life is abject chaos. There has been no conversation as to what to do with the 200 prison guards trained to open Thomson," Andrzejewski said. "They have not been a part of the conversation whatsoever."
He was concerned the community was "sold a bill of goods" back then, and is afraid something similar might happen. "There is a human cost to the decision," Andrzejewski said. "This is why we need further scrutiny, and why we need to slow down the process."
"It's a major decision to bring terrorists to American soil," said Andrzejewski.
Estimates
The prison was built by the state in 2001 with 1,600 cells. Budget problems prevented it from fully opening; now it houses about 200 minimum-security inmates.
A preliminary Obama Administration analysis indicates that the Federal Government's potential acquisition and activation of the state correctional facility in Thomson, would impact on the local economy, generating thousands of jobs and potentially injecting more than $1 billion into the local economy over the first four years, the period covered by the analysis. The analysis estimates that federal operation of the facility would generate between 2,340 and 3,250 ongoing jobs.
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