It looks like Illinois will not get any detainees from Guantanamo Bay.
Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to Illinois senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin promising the Obama administration won't transfer detainees to the Thomson prison in Carroll County.
The federal government is interested in buying the prison, but the Gitmo prisoners were a roadblock to the sale. At one point there was talk of converting a portion of Thomson to house the Guantanamo prisoners.
But Holder's letter -- released Monday afternoon -- says " ... we will not transfer detainees from Guantanamo to Thomson, or otherwise house Guantanamo detainees at Thomson. The Thomson facility would only house federal inmates and would be operated solely by the Bureau of Prisons."
Sen. Kirk toured the facility 10 days ago.
