Illinois prison selected for Guantanamo detainees - Summary

Washington - The US government plans to send an unspecified number of Guantanamo detainees to a prison in Illinois as part of the plan to shutter the controversial facility for holding terrorist suspects, the White House said Tuesday. President Barack Obama has ordered the federal government to buy a state prison in Illinois that would house a "limited number" of detainees. There are currently 215 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison on a US naval installation in Cuba.

Taking control of the Thomson Correctional Center, which lies about 240 kilometers west of Chicago, is a key step towards closing the prison, a goal Obama set days after taking office in January.

Senior administration officials told reporters that detainees who have been identified as transferable to other countries will remain at Guantanamo until host nations can be found. Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this month said there are 116 in that category.

Detainees who face trial in federal courts will be locked up in those jurisdictions, while military commissions for trying suspects will be moved to Thomson along with those charged. Other prisoners who cannot be tried or released to other countries will end up at Thomson as well, a senior administration official said.

The White House disclosed the decision in a letter to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn made public on Tuesday. Quinn, along with Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, urged the federal government to choose the site, arguing it would create thousands of jobs in a part of the state devastated by the downtrodden economy.

"We write to inform you that the president has directed, with our unanimous support, that the federal government proceed with the acquisition of the facility in Thomson," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in the letter to Quinn.

The Justice Department announced in November that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees suspected of plotting the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will be tried in a New York.

Obama had set a January 22 deadline for closing Guantanamo, which at one time held hundreds of captives in his predecessor George W Bush's war on terrorism. But allegations of abuse and the holding of detainees there indefinitely badly scarred the image of the United States.

Obama has acknowledged that he will not meet the deadline for shutting down Guantanamo. Gates said earlier this month that closing Guantanamo has "proven more complicated than we anticipated," but added that as logistical challenges are met the process should begin to move quickly.

The administration has also struggled to find countries willing to receive the detainees.

The federal government reportedly reviewed locations in Montana and Colorado as well before settling on the remote rural site in Illinois. The letter said federal prisoners will also be transferred there, but held separately from the Guantanamo detainees.

"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 center at Guantanamo in a timely, secure and lawful manner," the letter said.

The senior officials said the mostly vacant correctional center, built as a maximum security prison in 2001, will receive upgrades to tighten security, and the Defense Department will play a role in protecting the facility's perimeter.

Obama has faced resistance from congressional Republicans opposed to bringing the detainees to US soil. They argue it poses a security threat and that Guantanamo remains the best option.

Senator George LeMieux, a Republican from Florida, issued a statement criticizing the move.

"The president's decision to move dozens of terror suspects from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to an Illinois jail is another mistaken step in this administration's stubborn insistence to turn the global war on terror into a law enforcement effort," he said.

Obama established a task force dedicated to Guantanamo days after taking office to determine, among other things, which detainees would be released or transferred or tried in courts-martial or federal court.

Congress approved a law in October allowing the administration to transfer detainees to prisons on US territory but banned releasing any detainees in the United States. One official said none will be released in the US.

An official said the administration will ask Congress to modify a law so that the administration can indefinitely hold detainees who cannot be released or tried at Thomson. In the ongoing review of detainees cases, there have been none so far identified as fitting into that category, an official said.