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For Sale: One Prison, Like-New Condition
What's the dollar value of the Thomson prison?

Supporters of an effort to turn little-used Thomson into a federal prison to incarcerate Guantanamo detainees are touting the jobs that would be created for the community. Also part of the economic impact would be the cash the state would get for selling the property to the federal government, an amount unknown to Gov. Pat Quinn.

He says that would be the subject of negotiations following an appraisal.

The facility cost $140 million to build eight years ago. The governor says since it was a capital expense, should the state sell the prison, it should use the proceeds on other capital needs.

As far as job creation is concerned, some of the jobs created at Thomson would be military jobs, says U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), but most of the 2,000 total jobs would be civilian jobs, with qualified veterans getting preference in hiring.

There is no timetable for the federal government to decide if it wants Thomson.

(Illinois Radio Network)
11 17 09 by Newsroom
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