Guantanamo in Michigan?

[Garnet]

Several senior U.S. officials said the administration is eyeing a soon-to-be-shuttered state maximum security prison in Michigan and the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., as possible locations for a heavily guarded site to hold the 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters now jailed at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

My Way News - AP sources: Military-civilian terror prison eyed

This wouldn't be a bad thing for the community in Michigan that is reliant on the prison as a major source of income. Chances are, though, that Leavenworth would be more suited.

I don't buy that nonsense flapped about by the Republicans about how they'd be a danger to us all!!!111!!! Terrorists in the US, OMG!!1111!!!! But I do wonder what the potential ramifications are for moving the prisoners to the US. I'm bothered by this notion of locking up enemy combatants. It seems to be a way to imprison people without the protections of due process or the protections due to prisoners of war. It's yet another damned messy legacy left by Bush Co.

Will this proposal work? If not, what are other potential solutions?

[Master Taran]

STANDISH, Mich. (AP) - To many people struggling in this job-starved part of rural Michigan, unemployment is a bigger threat than terrorists.

With unemployment at more than 17 percent, many residents say they would welcome detainees from Guantanamo Bay in order to save the 280 jobs at a prison scheduled to close because of state budget cuts.

[Qingdai]

Prison jobs do not a great economy make, much of the California budget crisis is due to too much prison work, and stupid laws.

There are numerous people in the US federal prison system already that are not going to be released, even though their sentence is up, due to lack of extradition laws with the country of their origin (Cubans, for example) or the parole board refusing to give a sentence. They tend to get crazy as time goes on, a solution for all of them would be good. It's crazy making to not give a person an idea of when they could be released, so whether they are in Guantanamo or the US is not really an issue.

[Demimonde]

I am now imagining a short story in which an escaped detainee steps out into Michagan and sees the real America. Interesting.

[Garnet]

The largest portion of the Michigan budget is dedicated to the department of corrections. In that sense, this state is in the same boat as California with a huge prison population and stupid, stupid laws that put people in there. It's the elephant in the room that the legislature here does not want to deal with because solutions such as early releases and overhauling the laws immediately bring out the raucous "soft on crime" crowd.

I agree that prison jobs do not make for a great economy but it is a short term solution for a community like Standish. Of course, Michigan historically hasn't been very good at long term solutions; look at the mess here now.

I'm woefully ignorant about what is going on in Guatanamo. I do agree, based on my experience in working in corrections, that keeping a person imprisoned indefinitely without trial and without any idea of what their future may hold is simply wrong. I think, though, that perhaps getting them on US soil might help in the sense of actually holding trials and making decisions rather than just warehousing them as what seems to be going on now.

[Garnet]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

I am now imagining a short story in which an escaped detainee steps out into Michagan and sees the real America. Interesting.

If he steps out in the winter, the vision of real America is likely to be a helluva lot of snow.

[Garnet]

Update:

Federal officials coming to see Standish prison | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

[Miisa]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

I am now imagining a short story in which an escaped detainee steps out into Michagan and sees the real America. Interesting.

Want!

[Angakuk]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

I am now imagining a short story in which an escaped detainee steps out into Michagan and sees the real America.

Upon which he promptly ducks back into the prison and we have two more years of recession.

[Demimonde]

I'll have liv post it in the art section once I finish it.

Thanks for the idea/encouragemment!