Opening the Thomson Correctional Center to Guantanamo Bay detainess would be a "healthy dose of political irony," the Daily Herald points out.
The facility was originally supposed to open in 2001, the same year the United States was attacked and the national economy and Illinois budget sank as a result.
In the eight years since, the maxiumum security facility has sat mostly empty.
Now the Obama administration is looking at buying the western Illinois prison to house Gitmo detainees, many of whom are suspected of being linked to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
The town of Thomson is split over the possibility.
