WASHINGTON — If Congress signs off on the money to purchase the Thomson prison in Illinois, it could see its first federal inmates by mid-2011, a Justice Department official said.
President Barack Obama on Monday submitted a budget proposal to Congress asking for $237 million for the largely vacant prison in northwestern Illinois. Some terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be housed there, as would Bureau of Prisons inmates, administration officials have said.
If Congress were to approve the money by Oct. 1,
the start of the fiscal year, the prison would probably take its first
inmate “in the end of the first half” of 2011, an assistant attorney
general, Lee Lofthus, told reporters.
Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said Tuesday it had not been announced which category of federal inmate would be accepted at the prison first.
Obama’s budget included $170 million to acquire and renovate the prison and almost $67 million
to equip, staff and activate it. Lofthus said the government could not
begin to upgrade the prison or hire employees without approval of the
funds. “Other than taking a look at the property … we’re not moving
out on the hiring for Thomson,” he said.
Key Republicans in Congress immediately signaled opposition to the plan.
—
(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
