Illinois prison purchase going ahead, official says

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will purchase the Thomson prison in rural western Illinois even if Congress doesn’t approve the president’s plan to lock up terror suspects there, a key official at the Justice Department said Monday.

Lawmakers are threatening to scotch Obama’s proposal to move terror detainees to the unused state prison, a critical part of his plan to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

Even if lawmakers make good on that threat, a letter from the Justice Department suggests, the federal government will simply use the facility to hold federal inmates.

Writing to members of the Illinois delegation in Congress, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich reaffirmed the administration’s “commitment to acquiring the facility this year,” and provided details about steps planned for the next few months.

The Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons plans to hire and train employees while other administration officials “work with Congress to obtain authorization and funding for a portion of the Thomson facility,” Weich wrote in the letter, obtained by the Tribune Washington bureau.

President Barack Obama moved to shut down the controversial Guantanamo prison shortly after taking office, saying it had become a lightning rod for anti-American sentiment around the world and thus was a recruiting tool for al-Qaida.

Closing the prison has been difficult, however, as members of Congress decline to grant approval for transferring the Guantanamo detainees.

Also, in recent weeks, House lawmakers have moved to block federal funds for modifying the Thomson prison so it can accommodate the detainees.

However, that measure did not prohibit use of federal funding to actually buy the prison, and Monday’s letter indicates the Justice Department wants to keep the Thomson option alive as negotiations continue with congressional leaders.

All along, the Obama plan has been for the Defense Department to take a small part of the prison to house the Guantanamo detainees, staffed by military personnel from installations around the country.