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Under oath, Holder says no Gitmo prisoners in Illinois

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Illinois

* Maybe the skeptics will believe it now…

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pledged under oath Tuesday that the Obama administration under no circumstances would seek to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the vacant Thomson prison in northwestern Illinois.

Holder testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in answer to a question from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Durbin said the state and federal government had agreed to a purchase price for the long-vacant prison, but money appropriated to the Department of Justice needed to be reprogrammed for the sale to go through.

“We want to acquire the Thomson facility,” Holder said, after agreeing to the pledge sought by Durbin. “It would really be a welcome addition to our Bureau of Prisons.”

Durbin wants the federal government to buy the prison to ease overcrowding and spur the local economy. He said the sale would create more than 1,100 jobs and “inject at least $1 billion into the region’s economy.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:29 am

Comments

No Guanthomsonmo, eh?

Comment by Cincinnatus Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:33 am
== Durbin wants the federal government to buy the prison to ease overcrowding and spur the local economy. He said the sale would create more than 1,100 jobs and “inject at least $1 billion into the region’s economy.” ==

So just a shade under 1,000,000 a job, wow… That is some massive local input.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:39 am
Bureau of Prisons? Sounds ominous.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:51 am
Can someone create a list of all the promises of jobs made by the pols?

It seems that the job claims are always exaggerated and when compared to the expenditures not worth the effort.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:52 am
One Man…you’ve obviously never been out of work.

Try to look past your ideology, please.

Comment by Clio Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:53 am
Holder lacks credibility on so many fronts right now that it’s hard to take any comfort in anything he says.

Comment by Cassiopeia Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:55 am
Think about this. You need to make 1.8 million meals a year to feed inmates. Some of those employees will move to the area, buy homes, cars, etc. The estimate isn’t outrageous

Comment by I Don't Want To Live in Teabagistan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:57 am
After the fast and furious lies believing anything holder says is like believing Quinn when he says ” I support the death penalty”.

Comment by Fed up Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 10:59 am
Is this the same Holder that says the words Fast and Furious in his emails only refer to movie reviews?

Comment by Hank Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:01 am
I don’t see the huge issue with the transfer. We’re already spending a king’s ransom on keeping Gitmo open and it’s a divisive issue. Thomson is as close to the middle of nowhere as it gets. It’s hours away from a major airport, not close to any major cities (i.e. Chicago or St. Louis) and is situated near the Mississippi River. Other than some of the proving grounds out west or the desolate areas in the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho, Thomson makes as much sense as any other place. I would also assume that such a transition would bring massive security forces to the area, which would hopefully alleviate some of the fears of local residents.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:18 am
FTA: “Durbin said Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., joined him last year in making clear that support in Illinois for the prison purchase hinged on the guarantee that no Guantanamo Bay prisoners be shipped to it.”

Why?

Comment by JN Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:29 am
Clio…

== One Man…you’ve obviously never been out of work.

Try to look past your ideology, please. ==

Ummm, wrong, I have been out of work before but nice try.

And seriously, adding 1,100 jobs has a billion (that is 1,000,000,000) dollar impact on the local
economy.

So I guess if you consider “logic and math skills” to be an ideology, you have me there…

I don’t have a problem with the feds buying the jail and turning it into whatever. I do find the Billion (again a 1 followed by 9 zeros) economic impact to be a stretch…

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:36 am
The whole “no Gitmo” prisoners argument was always pathetic.
So what if they are imprisoned here? Is there really a significant problem with escapes from maximum security federal prisons? (Probably about as much as voter fraud threatening our democracy.)

I’ve had the honor of serving with our brave young volunteers deployed overseas fighting a war, are we really that cowardly as a population here at home to be afraid of a prison? Besides, if any escape, the right-to-gunfight lobby tough guys can deal with the escapees.

Comment by Honestly Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:37 am
==Maybe the skeptics will believe it now==

Not us hard-line tin-foil-hat types. Did this alleged Eric Holder present any kind of identification to prove it was actually him?

Comment by Anonymice Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:38 am
Add my name to the list of citizenry that believes Holder has no credibility whatsoever.

Comment by Slick Willy Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 11:46 am
Sen. Durbin doesn’t say how long it will take to inject the billion dollars into the economy. We all know the number of jobs projected is always high, everybody does it, even non-politicians. Regardless, this is good news for the NW corner of the state.

Comment by Stooges Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 12:03 pm
Ok, lets look at actual numbers then shall we…

They are going to add about 1,600 high security beds.
http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011summary/pdf/fy11-bop-bud-summary.pdf
FYI the total FBOP spend is about 6 Billion…

But lets use your food example using Michigan in 2008 it cost the state $83.4 to feed 51,000 inmates or about $5 per inmate per day (note this includes labor costs) it breaks down almost exactly $2.50 for food and $2.50 for labor

http://blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php/prison-food-service-costs-could-be-reduc?blog=5

So each day for 1,600 inmates it costs about 8,000 to feed them, about $4000 to pay those who deliver and prepare the food and $4000 for the food. Or about 2.9 Million (we will round up to 3 Million)

So 1.5 million for salaries for food prep and 1.5 million per year for food. Still more than a bit short.

But wait, OneMan they are going to add staff. Yes they are FBOP is asking for 1,274 new positions (about half corrections officers) for Thompson and an existing prison that is expanding, lets say for the ease of math 1,000 of those positions are for Thompson.

It costs almost 29K per year for each person in th e federal system
http://www.uscourts.gov/News/NewsView/11-06-23/Newly_Available_Costs_of_Incarceration_and_Supervision_in_FY_2010.aspx

But these are high security inmates so lets double that to $60,000 a year ( I think I am being generous)

So $60,000 * 1,600 inmates = 96,000,000 a year in expenses total (includes food, building, staff, etc).

So perhaps in 10 years close to a billion might have been spent in total. Not all of that money is going to be spent locally.

So I guess yeah, if you look at it long term enough, a billion dollars would be spent. But it is going to take a while.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 12:03 pm
If you really want to look smart on this subject, don’t include the P in Thomson.

Comment by Stooges Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 12:17 pm
One Man: How much of the $96M goes to staff and how much of that money is spent in the region–homes cars food, etc. How many people will that employ, etc. No one is saying all the money is going to be spent locally–even Durbin uses the word “regionally”.

Comment by I don't want to live in Teabagistan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 12:43 pm
“regionally” is right, as in IOWA.

Take a look at the map; Thomson has a population of 590 but just across the Mighty Mississippi is Clinton. All workers and most, if not all, $$$$ will be spent in Iowa, not Illinois. Opening Thomson prison will be the biggest boost to the Clinton area economy in decades; Thomson, not so much.

But a bigger issue here is the fact that the prison was built over a decade ago but has remained empty because it was too expensive to staff it. Was this a wake-up call to unions and politicians that public employee unions had priced themselves out of the market? Um, no. Wages and benefits proceeded apace and now Illinois finds itself in a quagmire of debt to unions. No matter that existing Illinois prisons are overcrowded, Illinois simply cannot afford more new taxpayer funded public employee jobs.

Live and DON’T learn is the motto for Illinois.

Comment by benevolent hegemon Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 1:06 pm
== If you really want to look smart on this subject, don’t include the P in Thomson. ==
Fair enough, but you know it isn’t that much of a stretch to get the name of an Illinois Governor and a jail confused

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 1:24 pm
== One Man: How much of the $96M goes to staff and how much of that money is spent in the region–homes cars food, etc. How many people will that employ, etc. No one is saying all the money is going to be spent locally–even Durbin uses the word “regionally”. ==

Well I kind of answered parts of that, it looks like they are going to add about 1,000 in headcount. Using the average pay of a guard of 53,000 it would be then about 53,000,000 in salaries.

Yes there is a compounding factor there somewhat but it is still 53,000,000 in new salaries in the area. So lets say it stays in the area for three rounds of spending before it goes bye-bye. 159 million a year…

But the house thing. Do you really think with the current foreclosure rate there is going to be a significant growth in home building? But fine lets say 500 of the 1000 build a new home. Again only about half of the staff at a prison are guards but we will go with the higher number.

Using the 2.5 times your salary rule for the house you can afford it is a 125,000 so with 500 125K houses that is….

62.5 million dollars in new homes we will add 10% for furniture and stuff so 69 million (I will even round up) (That is a one time number, not an annual number).

Again still not seeing a billion unless you go out almost a decade…

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 1:34 pm
benevolent hegemon,

yes, and it’s amusing to watch the bridge to IL during quitting time at the Ft Madison, IA prison as many of the workers return to their IL homes.

Cross border trade and job holding is usually beneficial to communities on both sides of the borders. After all, an awful lot of those workers eat at local Iowa eateries as no one but a prisoner will typically eat prison food.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 2:20 pm
The political wrangelling over Thomson sickens me. President Obama wants to purchase the site and the do-nothing Republicans have held it up for a full year now. All the sudden Congressional Republicans revers course on a half-heated promise. Fact is, Democrats including Pres. Obama made this pledge a full year ago! Politics sucks these days. Whatever happened to putting Country before Party?

Comment by redrum Wednesday, Jun 13, 12 @ 3:42 pm
Too bad.

The Gitmo prisoners should be tried in open court in Foley Square, right up the street from Ground Zero.

If convicted, Thomson would a swell prison for them.

That’s how we roll in the United States.

What’s everyone scared about, anyway?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 14, 12 @ 7:34 am