In the News

News Sun, November 20, 2009

A straw poll of 541 voters in state Sen. Susan Garrett's 29th District indicates 52 percent of respondents are in favor of moving prisoners from the military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to an idle Illinois prison.

Another 35 percent were opposed, and 13 percent said they were undecided. She received responses from 541 constituents in the poll e-mailed two days ago.

Garrett, a Democrat from Lake Forest, said Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., are seriously proposing the vacant Thomson Correctional Center in northwestern Illinois as a potential federal replacement should Gitmo be closed.

She said it is likely the General Assembly would have to approve the sale of the prison to the federal government so about 200 detainees currently at the Cuban facility could be moved to Illinois.

A typical response from a Deerfield voter indicated, "I am in favor of anything that brings revenue to Illinois."

Another voter from Highland Park said, "It's a no-brainer. It would absolutely be good for Illinois. As for safety, ask people in Florence, Colo., site of the supermax prison there, if they feel safe. It is probably one of the safest places in the country."

However, a Lake Forest resident noted, "I personally fear that housing detainees in an Illinois prison is unsafe and a very high risk, and that we cannot adequately protect the prisoners or our citizens. This would make Illinois a prime target for revenge -- and what better place to focus such acts than Chicago."

In a separate question, Garrett asked constituents if they believed prisoners at Gitmo should be given military trials, instead of civil trials

Fifty-two percent said they thought a military trial was appropriate, versus 33 percent who said they thought a civil trial should be provided. Fifteen percent had no opinion. She received responses from 540 constituents.

Typical responses to the e-mail question included a Highland Park resident who said, "If the Gitmo prisoners are eligible for the normal rights of criminal suspects then this is surely a bad idea. On the other hand, if we decide that we should not treat these individuals as terrorists, but as common criminals, then there may be a positive spin on these folks being considered murderers, rather than as heroic martyrs, from a world perspective."

Another Highland Park resident said, "An issue we haven't heard discussed is the fact that these prisoners haven't had their Miranda Rights read to them before they were interrogated. Bringing them to civil court is going to throw all their confessions out. Besides the obvious downsides of doing this, there is huge political risks to the administration (and Congress) if this goes badly."