US jail to hold Guantanamo inmates

US jail to hold Guantanamo inmates

A portion of the nearly-empty Thomson prison will house up to 90 Guantanamo inmates [AFP] A number of inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba are set to be transferred to a jail in the US state of Illinois. Barack Obama, the US president, ordered the acquisition of the currently near-empty high security facility in the rural town of Thomson on Tuesday. The prison is expected to hold up to 100 Guantanamo inmates as well as other federal prisoners. The Obama administration sought to assure Americans that none of the detainees previously held at Guantanamo would be released into the US, even after the conclusion of any trials. "The president has no intention of releasing any detainees in the United States," a letter fsigned by senior US national security aides, including Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said. Republicans and several others were quick to criticise Obama's decision to transfer the prisoners to the US for civilians trials. Safety fears Mitch McConnell, a US republican senator, said Americans and Congress had "already rejected bringing terrorists to US soil for long-term detention, and current law prohibits it." "The administration has failed to explain how transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will make Americans safer than keeping these terrorists off of our shores in the secure facility in Cuba," he said. Congress enacted a law barring Guantanamo detainees from being brought onto US soil except if they were going to be prosecuted. But Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, have indicated they are willing to lift that restriction if the administration comes up with an acceptable plan for dealing with the prisoners. Other critics said that the move would make it more difficult to secure convictions for the suspects. Lamar Smith, who is part of the US house of representatives judiciary committee as well as a republican ranking member of Texas, said the move would give "terrorist enemy combatants access to the same rights as US citizens." "Once on US soil, whether detained in a prison or awaiting trial, Gitmo terrorists can argue for additional rights under the constitution that may make it harder for prosecutors to obtain a conviction," Smith said in a statement. 'Supermax' security The defence department will operate part of the prison, according to the announcement on Tuesday and security will be increased across the facility. "This is an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois" Statement from governor and senator for Illinois The Thomson Correctional Centre was built in 2001 to maximum-security specifications, and after acquisition it will be exceed standards at the country's only "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado, where there has never been an escape or external attack, it said. The letter from the Obama administration, which was addressed to Pat Quinn, the governor of Illinois, said that the decision would help solve the country's prison shortage problem as well as the problem of what to do about the controversial Guantanamo facility. "Not only will this help address the urgent overcrowding problem at our nation's federal prisons, but it will also help achieve our goal of closing the detention centre at Guantanamo in a timely, secure, and lawful manner," it said. Obama ordered the Guantanamo Bay facility, which currently holds about 210 inmates, to be closed by January 22, but has admitted that the deadline will slip because of problems in deciding what to do with the prisoners. Quinn and Dick Durbin, the Illinois senator, said that the prison had been sitting empty for eight years and the government acquisition would create 3,000 jobs. "This is an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois," they said in a statement. Illinois officials and legislators had lobbied hard to bring the Guantanamo detainees to the state.

Source: Agencies