Moving Guantanamo Detainees to the SuperMax Prison in Illinois

This week, the Obama administration announced plans to move an undetermined number of detainees currently incarcerated in the prison at Guantanamo Bay into the unused SuperMax prison section of the Thompson prison complex in Illinois. Here are five quick facts that may be helpful when talking about this issue. [ABC News] I. The Basic Facts Tuesday, the White House sent a letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn saying President Obama plans to transfer some of the terrorism suspects from the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to a little-used prison in his state. [NY Times] Signing on to the letter: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair. [NY Times] The prison was built back in 2001 but stands practically empty, since budget restrictions hampered the state from using it to capacity. It currently has 1,600 cells, but contains only 200 minimum-security inmates and employs only 82 staff members. What happens next: "The detainees transferred from Guantanamo to Thomson will not be tried in civilian courts. These detainees will be tried by military tribunal, held for indefinite detention or transferred to other countries." [ABC News] II. Why Do It? In November 2008, Matthew Alexander (who led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006) wrote in the Washington Post, "It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001." Director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, Dennis C. Blair: The prison at Guantanamo has become "a damaging symbol to the world." He also told the Senate during his confirmation hearings, "It is a rallying cry for terrorist recruitment and harmful to our national security, so closing it is important for our national security." [NYT] March 2008, five former Secretaries of State: "Five former U.S. secretaries of State said Thursday the next president should move quickly to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That single act would improve America's dismal reputation in the world immediately, agreed Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell." [AJC] March 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: "In his first weeks as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantánamo would be viewed as illegitimate, according to senior administration officials. He told President Bush and others that it should be shut down as quickly as possible." [NY Times] January 2008, Sen. John McCain: "I would declare that we would close Guantanamo Bay and move those inmates to Ft. Levinworth in Kansas [applause]." [Orlando Sentinel] III. A SuperMax Prison Primer No one has ever escaped from a federal SuperMax prison. [PolitiFact] SuperMax Prisons, Generally: A SuperMax prison is different from a maximum-security prison in that: prisoners are kept isolated in their cells 23 hours a day; cells typically have no windows - instead lights are controlled by guards; prisoners do not eat together - instead, meals are given to them through a slot in their cell doors; prisoners are under constant surveillance on closed-caption systems; and cell walls are sound-proofed with cement to prohibit communication. [Washington Post] This SuperMax Prison: The Thompson prison is surrounded by two fences, a 12-foot exterior fence and 15-foot, dual-sided stun fence for the interior. Once there, these detainees will not have access to any visitors besides their lawyers. [ABC News] Terrorists already safely held in SuperMax prisons: Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind who was captured in Pakistan in 1995, convicted in U.S. district court in 1997 and sentenced to life in prison at the Supermax in Florence, CO. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a participant in the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings, captured in Germany in 1998, convicted in a U.S. district court in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison at the Supermax in Florence, CO.Theodore Kaczynski,otherwise known as the Unabomber; Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh's accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombings; Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber"; Other People in SuperMax Prisons: Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who spied for the Soviets;  Kenneth McGriff, the drug-dealing organized crime figure who was the basis of the fictional character Nino Brown in the 1991 film New Jack City. IV. Effect on the Community Illinois has an 11% unemployment rate. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, the facility "would create 840 to 910 temporary jobs and 3,180 to 3,880 ongoing jobs" in the area. Also, the facility would increase local payrolls by $793 million to $1.15 billion. [ABC News] CEA: "Approximately 80% of all of the jobs created by the facility will be held by people residing in Illinois, while people in Iowa will fill the remaining jobs...These jobs could reduce the unemployment rate in Carroll County, Illinois, where Thomson is located, by 2 to 4 percentage points." Mary Wiggins, 43-year-old waitress at the local Sunrise Cafe: "It don't bother me that there is going to be terrorists -- or people who our government think are terrorists -- living there.Murderers are in there, and terrorists are murderers. What difference does it make? If it brings people into this cafe, well, I guess I'm fine with it." [CNN] V. The Opposition Rep. Peter Roskam (R., IL).: The decision is "an ill-advised move that ultimately will be regretted...Illinois deserves a better Christmas present than hardened terrorists." " [ABC News] Rep. Mark Kirk (R., IL): "With the busiest airport in the world and the tallest building in North America, I do not think that we should make Chicagoland the center of Jihadi attention in the world." [CBS News] Rep. John Boehner (R., IN): "The American people don't want dangerous terrorists imported on to U.S. soil, and we have had bipartisan votes in both the House and Senate reaffirming this position." [ABC News] Sen. John Cornyn (R., TX): "This move will put our citizens in unnecessary danger, and that is unjustifiable and unacceptable." [NYT] Rep. Lamar Smith (R., TX): "The Obama administration is naive if they really think that simply changing the location of Gitmo will improve our relations with terrorists. Bringing Gitmo detainees to the U.S. gives terrorists access to additional constitutional rights. These new rights may help terrorists avoid conviction and even file civil suits against American officials." [Fox News] Social Media Consulting, Web Presence, Call Center Technology Book A FREE 1/2 Hr. Phone Consultation