It’s being reported that today President Barack Obama will make an announcement in regards to Guantanamo detainees.
President Obama is expected to announce today that he’s requested the federal government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center, a Level 1 adult male correctional facility that’s underused and located 150 miles east of Chicago.
Thomson Correctional Center was built in 2001 and also includes a 200 bed minimum security unit which is the only operational part of the prison. There’s also reportedly an unused total of 1,600 cells and eight housing units. It sits on a total of 146 acres, has an 15 foot interior fence and 12 foot exterior fence both dual electric stun fences.
Thomson residents were a bit upset at the thought of bringing suspected terrorist to their area even as prisoners but Thomson Mayor Jerry Hebeler stated that he felt most of the residents concerns had been recently eased.
Just yesterday the Supreme Court announced that it would not review a federal appeals court ruling which dismissed a lawsuit by British citizens that claimed they were wrongfully detained and mistreated by American prison officials at Guantanamo.
In April the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had already ruled that the officals were entitled to “qualified immunity” which shields government officials from liability for the violation of an individual’s federal constitutional rights.
The grant of immunity is offered to state and federal employees performing discretionary functions where their actions, even if later found to be unlawful, did not violate “clearly established law
