Posted on 12/23/2009 4:33:53 AM PST by SonOfDarkSkies
Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a prison in rural Illinois, the Obama administration is struggling to come up with the money to replace the Guantánamo Bay prison.
...
Frustrated by the difficulties in obtaining financing from Congress, administration officials had discussed invoking a little-known statute that would allow the president to declare a national emergency and then use military funds allocated for other construction projects to buy and retrofit the Illinois prison.
That statute, however, has never been used for a project quite like this one. Fearing that lawmakers would be angered by such a move and could respond by erasing the statute, the administration decided not to invoke it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Gosh, what a shame.
Could someone tell me why this prison was built in the first place? From what I have read it only houses about two hundred inmates.
Boondocks boondoggle? Hey, this is Illinois we’re talking about here!
I’m putting this in the not-gonna-happen file.
Dummy....just lease the prison and then after 6 months quit making payments. It will take 100 years in the courts to evict you.
Chicago politicians ....?
I wonder how the electorate in Illinois feels about their pride and joy now. Zero fails to get the Olympics, but as a consolation prize will deliver them a terrorist prison.
Folks in Thompson, IL and clinton, IA are absolutely ga-ga over the prospect of “good government jobs and federal benefits.”
I wonder if the land immediately upwind from the prison would be suitable for a hog farm?
Yeah, as if those will appear even 'if' the prison opens to these terrorists. I'm from 50 miles East of there. We think it's dumb and dangerous.
While I live in North Gitmo (the State formerly known as Illinois), I live about 300 miles south of Thompson.
The people of Thompson should google "Breslan" before they go ape over the "good government jobs" bringing jihadist into their midst.
When Tom Whitney ran for governor of Iowa back 20 years ago, he made the comment, “If they gave Iowa an enema, it would go in at Clinton.”
Sure. I'll try.
The fact is that most IL State Prisons are at and have been at overflow capacity for 'eons' (like Statesville near Joliet, IL), so a few new state prisons were built.But our ex criminal Governor - no not Blago - George Ryan (RINO and federal prisoner), spent money like a drunken sailor and bankrupted the state (Blago continued spending us into oblivion).
So naturally the first cost 'saving' measures they looked at when the checkbook was beyond empty was to ... CLOSE THE PRISONS(1) (these guys are geniuses). Now these new prisons served two functions - alleviate overcrowding at other prisons (as per a gazillion Fed Court Mandates) and provide jobs in communities hit by factory closings.
As to why this prison in Thomson only has a couple hundred State prisoners beats the heck out of me. It could be filled from the overflow in Statesville alone.
(1) Even the 'landmark' Joliet State Prison of Blues Brothers movie fame was shut down. The reason given was 'it was obsolete', riiiiight.
('Joliet' was one scary looking place from the outside. Would hate to be IN it)
Opened: March 1878
Capacity: 1,938
Level 1: Maximum-Security Adult Male
Level 3: High Medium-Security Male
Average Daily Population: 3,466
This prison (Menard) in Chester, IL is falling apart, overcrowded. Thompson should be/should have been used to reduce the stress on Menard.
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