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Michigan ; New home for Guantanamo detainees
Topic Started: Aug 3 2009, 10:32 AM (330 Views)
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Michigan may get 229 terror suspects from Guantánamo
Relocation to closing prison in Standish possible, Levin says

BY TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • August 3, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The state's soon-to-be-closed maximum security prison in Standish is being considered as a possible location to house terrorism suspects currently incarcerated at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said Sunday.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat, confirmed that the Standish prison was under consideration. The Associated Press reported that Standish and the 134-year-old military penitentiary at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., were being cited as potential locations to house Guantánamo's 229 detainees.

A White House official told the Free Press that no decisions have been made about a location and declined to comment on whether Standish -- marked for closure in a recent round of consolidations and budget cuts by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm -- was part of the discussions.

Levin said through his spokeswoman that Standish was under consideration -- and should be, "if there is support for it from state and local officials."

Standish's city manager said his city needs the jobs and revenue.

The governor's office did not immediately respond to the report and it is unclear whether Granholm would support such a move. She has been working to address issues that might allow the state to import prisoners from California as a way to keep Standish open. The prison, 25 miles north of Bay City and capable of housing a bit more than 600 prisoners, employs approximately 300 people. It is to close Oct. 1 unless it gets new prisoners from outside the state.

But doubts about housing terrorism suspects anywhere on U.S. soil have been widespread, particularly among Republican members of Congress, not least in Michigan's delegation by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra. The Holland Republican is the ranking GOP member of the House Intelligence Committee and a candidate for governor next year.

Hoekstra said that Levin was wrong to think this decision should be made by local officials. Those officials do not have the security expertise to make such a decision, he said.

"This is not a local community decision, excuse me," he said. "This is a national security decision."

Hoekstra said the Guantánamo prisoners "pose a special kind of challenge. These people pose a risk to the country."

As one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama called for the closing of the Navy detention center at Guantánamo.

Contact TODD SPANGLER: 202-906-8203 or tspangler@freepress.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report

http://www.freep.com/article/20090803/NEWS06/908030360/Michigan-may-get-terror-suspects
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Feds to tour Mich. prison as possible site for Gitmo inmates

Karen Bouffard / By Karen Bouffard Detroit News Lansing Bureau
The Obama administration is sending officials to Michigan to tour the Standish maximum security prison that could be used to hold terrorism suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Two government officials told the Associated Press that representatives of the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments would tour the prison Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the visit.

Besides the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility, the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is under consideration to house the terror suspects.

There are 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters jailed at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay that President Obama has said he wants to close.

At a hearing today in Lansing, Standish-area lawmakers and some local officials said they strongly support bringing outside prisoners to the Standish prison, whether they come from Guantanamo or out of state.

Some local residents, however, expressed safety concerns should Gitmo terror suspects be shipped to the soon-to-close maximum security facility. And a union official said a federally run facility for Guantanamo Bay inmates would be unlikely to retain the local guards.

The testimony revealed divisions over how best to avert the impact of closing the Standish prison, which employs more than 300 people and is the region's largest industry.

Standish City Manager Mike Moran said the decline in demand for water, sewerage and other city services would have dire consequences for the town's $4 million annual budget.

"If we lose that, we're losing 25 percent of our overall budget and 45 percent of our water and sewer budget," Moran said. "We would have to lay off people to maintain services and we would probably have to cut services -- you could end up charging $7 for a glass of water."

Reps. Tim Moore, R-Farwell, Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch, and Jeff Mayes, D-Bay City, all said they would prefer California inmates to suspected terrorists. But the Guantanamo option would be better than leaving the prison empty.

"If the Standish Max is closed, the economic impact would be devastating," Moore said. "Arenac County would be a ghost town."

Sheltrown dismissed the security concerns some residents have raised over housing alleged terrorists.

"I don't believe they are super human beings or any more dangerous than the Crips and the Bloods or any other gangs in California," Sheltrown said. "These are highly trained (prison guards) and very capable of handling any prisoners we have here."

Still, Dave Munson, who said he was there to represent the residents of Standish, said people he knows don't want Gitmo detainees in their town.

"California prisoners are Americans; Guantanamo Bay prisoners are jihadists -- that's the difference," Munson said. "We're going to be a target, and jihadists love soft targets."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she would rather take in prisoners from other states, such as California, than the Guantanamo detainees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090812/POLITICS02/908120408/Feds-to-tour-Mich.-prison-as-possible-site-for-Gitmo-inmates
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