Post by Doc2 on Jun 8, 2009 5:30:41 GMT -5
High-profile prisoners? Terre Haute residents are used to it
By Francesca Jarosz
francesca.jarosz@indystar.com
When the location of Terre Haute's new Wal-Mart Supercenter came under debate three years ago, City Councilman Rich Dunkin received more than 300 phone calls about the issue.
So one would think he'd be getting an earful over the prospect of moving suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a federal penitentiary in his district.
But Dunkin says he hasn't heard a peep.
Nationwide, the idea of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center has raised concerns that moving some of its roughly 240 detainees to U.S. prisons could pose safety risks to Americans living near those high-security facilities.
But in Terre Haute, whose Federal Correctional Complex has become a speculative candidate to receive some of the detainees, it's more a shrug of the shoulder than a hot topic of political debate.
"I don't think there's any heartburn one way or another," Dunkin said of the sentiment in his mostly blue-collar city 70 miles west of Indianapolis. "We wouldn't even feel the presence of those people in this community."
Many experts agree that fears about detainees escaping or plotting a terrorist attack are overstated. That's particularly true, they say, at a penitentiary such as Terre Haute, which already has housed high-profile terrorists, as well as inmates on federal Death Row.
"The Bureau of Prisons handles members from some of the most violent gangs in the U.S., which pose a risk to society equal to terror suspects," said Darrell Legg, a consultant who worked in prisons ranging from minimum to high security for the Bureau of Prisons for 21 years. "These guys are no more dangerous than the leader of the Mexican Mafia or the Aryan Brotherhood."
Not everyone sees it that way. Last month, the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate voted to reject a request for $80 million to shut down Gitmo and sought assurances that the detainees would not be brought to the U.S.
A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed that Americans oppose closing Guantanamo by 2-to-1 and oppose moving its suspected terrorists here by 3-to-1. The Web site GOPUSA recently sent a mass e-mail warning of the dangers of bringing suspected terrorists to American soil.
Some of that sentiment has been shared in Indiana, where the Senate passed a resolution urging President Barack Obama to keep Gitmo detainees away from Terre Haute. But when the resolution was proposed, even Terre Haute's mayor noted the momentum behind it came from lawmakers on the opposite end of the state.
"I just got the feeling in town that there was a lot of shrugging shoulders," said Max Jones, editor of the local newspaper, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. "I didn't sense any outrage whatsoever."
Though they're not calling political representatives, some who live closest to the complex say they'd prefer to keep suspected terrorists out of the facility.
"There is that thought that it could become a designated area for an attack," said John Cheesman, 50, who lives about a mile from the complex. "My thought is if they can take out New York like they did, this is nothing."
Neighbor Mary Browning, however, sees it differently.
"They have good security over there, and they would have the same security for (Guantanamo detainees)," said Browning, 85. "They've brought people here who have done some terrible things, and they had to put them to death, and we never knew it took place."
If Guantanamo Bay does close, Obama has made clear, detainees will need to be brought to the U.S. to be held in the country's highest-security penitentiaries. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said some recommendations about where to place them are expected by late July.
The Terre Haute facility, which houses 2,948 inmates in its medium- and high-security facilities, could be a viable option, experts say.
It is the only federal penitentiary with a Death Row, where convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was held for about two years before his execution in 2001.
The complex also houses a Communications Management Unit, an isolated area where inmates such as terrorists and sex offenders are housed away from the general prison population. There, they are able to participate in education and work programs, but virtually all of their communication is monitored.
The Communications Management Unit has held lower-profile prisoners such as Randall Royer, a defendant prosecuted as part of the "Virginia jihad" case in Alexandria, Va., and five members of a group of Yemeni natives called the Lackawanna Six, who attended an al-Qaida training camp.
The existence of the unit adds to the likelihood that Terre Haute could be a venue for Guantanamo detainees, said Mark Hamm, a criminology professor at Indiana State University who has studied Islamic extremism in Western prisons and has been visiting the Terre Haute facility since 1967.
He said the city's lack of activism about the prison or the inmates there also could make it a more likely candidate.
Terre Haute leaders say relations between the city and the correctional complex have long been cordial. There was little stir about putting in a Death Row. And in 2003, when plans for a new prison that would double the number of inmates were announced, locals embraced it and later lobbied for a third facility, largely because of the jobs the prisons bring.
The overall embrace hasn't stopped some concerned residents from trying to rally others. City Councilman Turk Roman said he thinks most people are silent about the issue because they don't think the detainees will really be moved there. Roman is trying to convince them otherwise.
"They don't think it's going to happen," he said. "But if there's a chance, then I'm concerned."
Additional Facts
Prison security
The Federal Correctional Complex's high-security U.S. penitentiary has tightly secured perimeters, such as 12-foot fences with razor wire, extensive electronic surveillance and close control of inmate movement. In penitentiary settings, some prisoners are allowed to work outside their cells, while others are on 23-hour-a-day lockdown.
The complex also has a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, where inmates can participate in a wide variety of work and treatment programs. The staff-to-inmate ratio also is lower than in high-security facilities.
Also within the medium-security facility is the Communications Management Unit, an isolated area where inmates such as terrorists and sex offenders are housed away from the general prison population.
Experts say many Guantanamo Bay detainees likely would be locked down 23 hours a day, have heavily restricted contact with one another and be isolated from the general prison population to prevent radicalizing other inmates.
Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons; Darrell Legg, a consultant who worked in prisons ranging from minimum to high security for the Bureau of Prisons for 21 years.
By Francesca Jarosz
francesca.jarosz@indystar.com
When the location of Terre Haute's new Wal-Mart Supercenter came under debate three years ago, City Councilman Rich Dunkin received more than 300 phone calls about the issue.
So one would think he'd be getting an earful over the prospect of moving suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a federal penitentiary in his district.
But Dunkin says he hasn't heard a peep.
Nationwide, the idea of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center has raised concerns that moving some of its roughly 240 detainees to U.S. prisons could pose safety risks to Americans living near those high-security facilities.
But in Terre Haute, whose Federal Correctional Complex has become a speculative candidate to receive some of the detainees, it's more a shrug of the shoulder than a hot topic of political debate.
"I don't think there's any heartburn one way or another," Dunkin said of the sentiment in his mostly blue-collar city 70 miles west of Indianapolis. "We wouldn't even feel the presence of those people in this community."
Many experts agree that fears about detainees escaping or plotting a terrorist attack are overstated. That's particularly true, they say, at a penitentiary such as Terre Haute, which already has housed high-profile terrorists, as well as inmates on federal Death Row.
"The Bureau of Prisons handles members from some of the most violent gangs in the U.S., which pose a risk to society equal to terror suspects," said Darrell Legg, a consultant who worked in prisons ranging from minimum to high security for the Bureau of Prisons for 21 years. "These guys are no more dangerous than the leader of the Mexican Mafia or the Aryan Brotherhood."
Not everyone sees it that way. Last month, the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate voted to reject a request for $80 million to shut down Gitmo and sought assurances that the detainees would not be brought to the U.S.
A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed that Americans oppose closing Guantanamo by 2-to-1 and oppose moving its suspected terrorists here by 3-to-1. The Web site GOPUSA recently sent a mass e-mail warning of the dangers of bringing suspected terrorists to American soil.
Some of that sentiment has been shared in Indiana, where the Senate passed a resolution urging President Barack Obama to keep Gitmo detainees away from Terre Haute. But when the resolution was proposed, even Terre Haute's mayor noted the momentum behind it came from lawmakers on the opposite end of the state.
"I just got the feeling in town that there was a lot of shrugging shoulders," said Max Jones, editor of the local newspaper, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. "I didn't sense any outrage whatsoever."
Though they're not calling political representatives, some who live closest to the complex say they'd prefer to keep suspected terrorists out of the facility.
"There is that thought that it could become a designated area for an attack," said John Cheesman, 50, who lives about a mile from the complex. "My thought is if they can take out New York like they did, this is nothing."
Neighbor Mary Browning, however, sees it differently.
"They have good security over there, and they would have the same security for (Guantanamo detainees)," said Browning, 85. "They've brought people here who have done some terrible things, and they had to put them to death, and we never knew it took place."
If Guantanamo Bay does close, Obama has made clear, detainees will need to be brought to the U.S. to be held in the country's highest-security penitentiaries. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said some recommendations about where to place them are expected by late July.
The Terre Haute facility, which houses 2,948 inmates in its medium- and high-security facilities, could be a viable option, experts say.
It is the only federal penitentiary with a Death Row, where convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was held for about two years before his execution in 2001.
The complex also houses a Communications Management Unit, an isolated area where inmates such as terrorists and sex offenders are housed away from the general prison population. There, they are able to participate in education and work programs, but virtually all of their communication is monitored.
The Communications Management Unit has held lower-profile prisoners such as Randall Royer, a defendant prosecuted as part of the "Virginia jihad" case in Alexandria, Va., and five members of a group of Yemeni natives called the Lackawanna Six, who attended an al-Qaida training camp.
The existence of the unit adds to the likelihood that Terre Haute could be a venue for Guantanamo detainees, said Mark Hamm, a criminology professor at Indiana State University who has studied Islamic extremism in Western prisons and has been visiting the Terre Haute facility since 1967.
He said the city's lack of activism about the prison or the inmates there also could make it a more likely candidate.
Terre Haute leaders say relations between the city and the correctional complex have long been cordial. There was little stir about putting in a Death Row. And in 2003, when plans for a new prison that would double the number of inmates were announced, locals embraced it and later lobbied for a third facility, largely because of the jobs the prisons bring.
The overall embrace hasn't stopped some concerned residents from trying to rally others. City Councilman Turk Roman said he thinks most people are silent about the issue because they don't think the detainees will really be moved there. Roman is trying to convince them otherwise.
"They don't think it's going to happen," he said. "But if there's a chance, then I'm concerned."
Additional Facts
Prison security
The Federal Correctional Complex's high-security U.S. penitentiary has tightly secured perimeters, such as 12-foot fences with razor wire, extensive electronic surveillance and close control of inmate movement. In penitentiary settings, some prisoners are allowed to work outside their cells, while others are on 23-hour-a-day lockdown.
The complex also has a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, where inmates can participate in a wide variety of work and treatment programs. The staff-to-inmate ratio also is lower than in high-security facilities.
Also within the medium-security facility is the Communications Management Unit, an isolated area where inmates such as terrorists and sex offenders are housed away from the general prison population.
Experts say many Guantanamo Bay detainees likely would be locked down 23 hours a day, have heavily restricted contact with one another and be isolated from the general prison population to prevent radicalizing other inmates.
Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons; Darrell Legg, a consultant who worked in prisons ranging from minimum to high security for the Bureau of Prisons for 21 years.