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| Reaction To Thomson Prison Not Being Fully Utilized |
(IRN)--The congressman whose district includes Thomson Prison says a deal to fully utilize the facility has been a long time coming to his constituents.
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Leaf River) says the state has been unfair to his constituents for the last 10 years by not making full use of the 1,600-bed Thomson Prison.
"First of all they went through the pain of deciding whether or not to have a prison here," Manzullo said. "That's not an easy decision. I mean there were a lot of heated debates."
He says once the town agreed, and a prison was built, the state didn't keep its promise.
"All of a sudden the state of Illinois, which had money to partially fund the construction of this facility, can’t come up with the $80 [million] to $90 million a year to staff it and run it," Manzullo said. "Of course the people feel they have become a rubber band for the politicians here."
(Source: Illinois Radio Network)
Manzullo says he has been working since to right the wrong.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to give them, to give the people of this area, the true sentiment of Congress…and that is Congress would never be in a position, would never vote to do anything to close Gitmo and move those terrorists to Thomson.,” Manzullo said. “And that being the case let’s abandon the terrorist coming from Gitmo and concentrate 100 percent on opening this thing as a stand-alone federal facility.”
Manzullo says the president agreed to acquire and open the prison either way. The debate lately has been whether the president would abandon the idea of housing Guantanamo detainees at Thomson.
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| 03 25 11 by Newsroom |
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