Boland, IA legislator explore idea for use of Thompson Prison

From the Quad City Times...

One Illinois legislator is ready to look across the river for a new use for the vacant Thomson correctional center.

Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, said he has been talking with Iowa Rep. Joe Hutter, R-Bettendorf, about the State of Iowa using the Thomson maximum-security prison that was completed in 2001 but never opened because of Illinois budget shortages.

Boland said that Iowa is shipping prisoners to other states because of overcrowding. He said the conversations have been "to see if we can get them interested in housing prisoners at Thomson and helping us and helping them."

The Illinois representative also said Cook County struggles with overcrowding in its jails, and Thomson might be an option.

Hutter said he has submitted a request for a bill to establish a study committee to look at the idea of Iowa using the nearby Illinois facility that cost $140 million to build and is considered state-of-the-art.

He thought of the idea after reading a recent Legislative Study Report that Iowa would need to build three new prisons at $50 million each by 2014.

About three weeks ago, Hutter toured the Thomson facility and realized it was only about 12 miles from Clinton. He said there seems to be no reason to build a prison in Iowa when an unused one is so close. Hutter said he also talked with other Illinois officials about the idea.

There could be many aspects of an agreement with Illinois, such as whether some of the guards and other workers could live in Iowa, Hutter said. He said there are many benefits to the area and state by using the Thomson prison.

The Bettendorf representative hopes the bill will be supported in the session starting in January so the idea can be investigated fully.