Rural prison could house Guantanamo inmates

The US government may buy a nearly-empty prison in rural Illinois to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay along with other inmates.

The maximum-security Thomson Correctional Facility, about 150 miles west of Barack Obama’s adopted home town of Chicago, was one of several considered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and emerged as a leading option to house the terror suspects, a White House spokesman said.

President Obama wants detainees from the controversial military-run detention centre in Cuba to be transferred to US soil so they can be prosecuted for their suspected crimes.

Thomson was built by the state in 2001 with 1,600 cells, but budget problems prevented it from fully opening and it now houses about 200 minimum-security inmates.

It is unclear how many Guantanamo detainees, many held without charges since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, might be transferred to Illinois or when.

Mr Obama initially planned to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January 22, but the administration is no longer expected to meet that deadline.