Mich. prison assessed for possible Gitmo transfers

[kwame k]

By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writer – 36 mins ago
STANDISH, Mich. – Federal and state officials visited a maximum-security prison in rural Michigan on Thursday to begin assessing its suitability to house Guantanamo Bay detainees.
About a dozen state officials were joined by 18 representatives from the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments and the Bureau of Prisons on the tour of the lockup in Standish, said Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
The prison in Standish, 145 miles north of Detroit, and a military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., are being considered to house the 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters currently at the Guantanamo Bay prison, if it is closed by 2010 as President Barack Obama has ordered.
Wednesday's was a fact-finding inspection, and federal officials had not proposed transferring detainees to Standish, Marlan said.
"The visit to Standish is to do a preliminary site survey. No final decisions have been made," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs in Washington said about the survey.
Marlan said the group looked at six housing units, the administration building, the health care wing and the cafeteria, where they lunched on the same meal the inmates were served: Salisbury steak, beans, spinach and carrot cake.
None of the federal officials commented to reporters as they left for private meetings with local officials.
The tour was similar to one given recently to a corrections team from California, which has shown interest in sending inmates from its overcrowded prisons to Michigan and is expected to make a decision within a couple of weeks, Marlan said. Michigan also has received inquiries about housing inmates from Pennsylvania.
The region around Standish is hurting economically, with an unemployment rate of more than 17 percent, and some residents welcome bringing in the Guantanamo detainees if it will prevent closing down the prison, which with about 340 workers is the area's largest employer.
"Let 'em come. This community is hurting enough," Gloria Watson, 71, said while lunching in a downtown restaurant.
The terrorism suspects would be no more dangerous than other criminals who have been held in the prison throughout its 20-year history, said Watson, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in nearby Twining. "I just wish people would stop running scared."
Others fear bringing the Guantanamo detainees to Standish would make the town a target.
"The problem I have is, you almost are putting a bulls-eye on the whole entire area. There are just too many things that could go wrong," said Tom Kerrins, the chief steward for the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing prison workers in Standish.
Kerrins, 49, said the union opposes sending the Gitmo prisoners to Standish in part because it doubts the jobs of watching over them would go to the state officers working there now and would instead go to federal officers.
"They're still going to kick us down the road. They're going to use their own people," the Gladwin resident said Thursday outside the prison.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that he would ask the departments of Defense and Justice to lead a delegation to visit Guantanamo Bay "to better understand the special circumstances and the challenges that these detainees present by moving them to Michigan."
Hoekstra, who is running for Michigan governor in 2010, is opposed to moving the prisoners to the state.
"Allowing state and local officials to see firsthand these detainees and Guantanamo Bay is necessary for them to understand the challenges and risks," he said in a statement.
Kansas' two Republican senators, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, oppose proposals to move detainees to Fort Leavenworth, and have held up the nomination of New York Republican Rep. John McHugh for Army secretary until they receive more information from the Obama administration about the possible Leavenworth choice.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called on her Kansas colleagues to relent on Thursday, saying it's in the best interest of the Army and the nation to swiftly allow the nomination to move forward.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090813/ap_on_re_us/us_guantanamo_detainees)

[kwame k]

The people of Michigan have got what they deserves for voting in such a worthless shit as Granholm, not once but twice. What they need to do is like the Kurt Russel movie Escape from LA (?). Put a wall around Detroit and let them have at it. Not like anyone wants Detroit or there are any plans in the future to fix that cluster fuck.

My poor home state.......first the Depression, then the Lions and now this.

[Blackflag]

The people of Michigan have got what they deserves for voting in such a worthless shit as Granholm, not once but twice. What they need to do is like the Kurt Russel movie Escape from LA (?). Put a wall around Detroit and let them have at it. Not like anyone wants Detroit or there are any plans in the future to fix that cluster fuck.

My poor home state.......first the Depression, then the Lions and now this.

I don't disagree about that shithole, but what does that have to do with this prison in the boondocks?

And you're thinking of the classic Escape from New York...the more whimsical L.A. didn't have a wall...

[Big Train]

Doesn't matter where they go.

Put them in the general population, they will all be shanked in a month.

[kwame k]

I don't disagree about that shithole, but what does that have to do with this prison in the boondocks?

And you're thinking of the classic Escape from New York...the more whimsical L.A. didn't have a wall...

Yeah, the New York one, hence the question mark.

I know exactly where Standish is and had to drive through there to get to my property in Northern Michigan. The Detroit thing was a joke.

[Blackflag]

That would be the perfect ending for one of them that's innocent. Pulled out of your own house by a foreign army, shipped off to Cuba, held 7 years without a trial, then sent to buttwater, michigan to be shanked by some lowlife. I love that story.

[kwame k]

Great story ;) Unjustly imprisoned because a jealous fellow tribesman that had a grudge against you and you end up in bum fucked Michigan getting shanked...........Movie of the week possibilities right there.

[Nickdfresh]

The people of Michigan have got what they deserves for voting in such a worthless shit as Granholm, not once but twice. What they need to do is like the Kurt Russel movie Escape from LA (?). Put a wall around Detroit and let them have at it. Not like anyone wants Detroit or there are any plans in the future to fix that cluster fuck.

My poor home state.......first the Depression, then the Lions and now this.

Well you still have the Red Wings. And aren't a lot of locals praying for this? Prison bling is good bling...

[kwame k]

True and anything that can help Michigan's economy has to be a good thing. My responses are more tongue in cheek than anything else.

[sadaist]

I wonder how the Yoopers feel about this? Maybe they'll try to have them released for a new hunting season.

[Mushroom]

I like the fact so many people cried for the closure of Gitmo, and Obama plegded to close Gitmo. But now, the majority cry they do not want the "prisoners" in their state, NIMBY. I would have liked to be in the same room with Obama when he was briefed on the whole Gitmo/detainee situation.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Here's what I don't understand....

There's a brand-new maximum security prison in Hardin, Montana that actually WANTS these prisoners, but it doesn't appear that they'll go there...

The Montana Town That Wanted to Be Gitmo - TIME (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1894373,00.html)

[Nickdfresh]

That would be the perfect ending for one of them that's innocent. Pulled out of your own house by a foreign army, shipped off to Cuba, held 7 years without a trial, then sent to buttwater, michigan to be shanked by some lowlife. I love that story.

Why not. Innocent people have been "shanked" by the entire criminal justice system...

[Nickdfresh]

Here's what I don't understand....

There's a brand-new maximum security prison in Hardin, Montana that actually WANTS these prisoners, but it doesn't appear that they'll go there...

The Montana Town That Wanted to Be Gitmo - TIME (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1894373,00.html)

It's Obama's socialism. Since he now owns GM, he has to create gov't jobs in Detroit.

[Nickdfresh]

I like the fact so many people cried for the closure of Gitmo, and Obama plegded to close Gitmo. But now, the majority cry they do not want the "prisoners" in their state, NIMBY. I would have liked to be in the same room with Obama when he was briefed on the whole Gitmo/detainee situation.


Or pussy "conservatives" that are afraid to put "terrorists" in their nearby prisons that house felons that are far worse than probably 80% of the GITMO detainees...

[Mushroom]

Or pussy "conservatives" that are afraid to put "terrorists" in their nearby prisons that house felons that are far worse than probably 80% of the GITMO detainees...

it's a 4-way street. conservatives and liberals are afraid to put "terrorists" in their nearby prisons. and at the same time, other conservatives and liberals don't care.

it's right to question authority and politics, but felons that are far worse than probably 80% of the GITMO detainees... is just (y)our assumption. maybe you work for the CIA and "know" this stuff. and yes I've heard the stories of the jealous fellow tribesman or shiite/sunni turning others in, but what do "WE" really know??

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I agree with the "NIMBY" reference, George Carlin did bits on that with building prisons for years....

But again, they've got a brand-new (and EMPTY) one in bumfuck Montana, maximum security....

You couldn't ask for a better location, could you ???

[Big Train]

They could put them in Pelican Bay, Chino or Folsom.

They would be dead in a week.

They need their own entire prison to survive.

[ZahZoo]

That would be the perfect ending for one of them that's innocent. Pulled out of your own house by a foreign army, shipped off to Cuba, held 7 years without a trial, then sent to buttwater, michigan to be shanked by some lowlife. I love that story.

Only problem is you won't find any low level "nobodies" in Gitmo... If there are any innocents being held... they would not even get consideration for the plane ride across the pond. They'd be staying local in Iraq or Afganistan or end up face down in a local dump.

[bueno bob]

I wonder how the Yoopers feel about this? Maybe they'll try to have them released for a new hunting season.

Not like any of them would do any actual HUNTING; between the beer and poker, when are they gonna squeeze THAT in?

:tongue0011:

[thome]

Same old story of liberal peace queers.

"Save The Gitmo Detainees"

"Due Process"

"Human Rites"

"Ok, were closing GITMO, we are going to split them all up, and all of you are going to house sit them in your homes, untill the trail dates."

SWOOSH!!!!

Nobody can be found and it's like the crickets aren't even chirping...lol

[kwame k]

Same old story of liberal peace queers.

"Save The Gitmo Detainees"

"Due Process"

"Human Rites"

"Ok, were closing GITMO, we are going to split them all up, and all of you are going to house sit them in your homes, untill the trail dates."

SWOOSH!!!!

Nobody can be found and it's like the crickets aren't even chirping...lol

Maybe we should keep them locked up forever with no trail because we know the previous administration never spied on or locked anyone up without reason.:umm:

[thome]

Maybe we should keep them locked up forever with no trail because we know the previous administration never spied on or locked anyone up without reason.:umm:


What % of arrested people are found innocent of the charge levied against them....,,,,,,,,,,
.08%, or even less on a national or world wide level?

(most innocents) plea bargain, to a lesser charge to get it over with, thus admitting partial guilt..Yes/No?

That partial guilt is fact of the proof of guilt at time of charging of the crime.

So, wich "one" do we let go before trail ?

Wich "one" are we wrong about ?

Let's use the benifit of the doubt thoery..lets say we are probably unable to proove the guilt of 60% of them.

Wich, "120" of them do we let go.

And remember this isn't traffic court................. on a TV show, this is conspiring to KILL Ten's perhaps Hundreds's of unwarry humans for Allah.

There is not a single possible charge that these people are being held for that is a misdemeanor(sp) crime.

These are crimes on a supreme court level, crimes against humanity.

[standin]

If we can't prosecute them, they should be sent to international court.

I have real issue with this subject because I an 199% against privatization of the penal system.
If the penal system becomes privatized, so falls all other levels of the Judaical system.

As Thome pointed out, it is cheaper to plead guilty for many folks, even if they are not guilty of the crime. Because time is money when Tommy is needing shoes for school.

But another aspect, one Thome does not and would not mention is the " it would cost too much to prosecute me if I demand a full 12 person jury, they will drop the charges". mentality of career trickster criminals.

Noble contrabandist would say, this is what I did, this is the standard cost and time frame for my crime. Know it, plan for it and factor it into the business.

But all of that is lost when profit is mixed into the Judaical and penal system.

[kwame k]

The detainees are considered enemy combatants and under Dubya's plan are afforded no rights whatsoever. They have not had due process or anything, so guilt or innocence has never been established.

If they are the bad guys, try 'em and stuff 'em prison for life.......but at least give them a trial.

The costs thing........ we've spent billions on an unjust war why not spend a few more dollars on justice.

[Sgt Schultz]

What the hell are you all babbling about? Barry closed Gitmo. He also ended the Iraq war. What's the problem?

[BITEYOASS]

Standish? Fuck Standish! Put them in the recently closed maximum security prison in Jackson! If they try to escape in the summer they will freeze to death, and if they try during the summer then they'll have there asses capped by the locals in order to get that reward money.

I mention Jackson, Mich. because I'm originally from there, how biased of me! :D

[hideyoursheep]

My poor home state.......first the Depression, then the Lions and now this.

Did you forget something?


<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/michigan%20football" target="_blank"><img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q292/bodeanski/michigan.jpg" border="0" alt="F@$* MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>









<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/michigan" target="_blank"><img src="http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt341/redneckchris/1500days.jpg" border="0" alt="michigan sucks Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>


:hee:

[VH Drummer]

I...am totally fucking against this. I cannot wait until I vote Granholm out of office.

[ZahZoo]

And remember this isn't traffic court................. on a TV show, this is conspiring to KILL Ten's perhaps Hundreds's of unwarry humans for Allah.

There is not a single possible charge that these people are being held for that is a misdemeanor(sp) crime.

These are crimes on a supreme court level, crimes against humanity.

Thank you...

None of these people were just walking down the street or sitting in their living rooms watching NASCAR on a given Sunday and the US Military happened to "bust" em in some local round up of the usual suspects.

Most of these assholes were captured on the battlefield with gun, RPG, IED, etc... in hand!! Or were part of the leadership coordinating, financing and executing the war in which they were directly involved in when captured.

Many are directly tied to local terrorist groups in Iraq, Afganistan, Pakistan and Iran. A lot of them are not even citizens in that region. Several are directly tied to some of the major terrorist acts that have killed thousands of innocent people around the globe and/or thousands locally who didn't buy into their criminal empire.

These aren't petty thieves, dope dealers or wife beaters... These are the very people on the other side shooting back at our troops in this war. If released 99.9&#37; of them will return to wherever or whatever they were a part of and will resume activities to kill other people and target the United States and it's citizens or interests with the intent to take lives.

If they need to be tried in some sort of justice system so you pussies can sleep better at night... fine. Assemble an international tribunal, try em and put them away or put them down. Releasing them to resume is not a viable option...

[Blackflag]

None of these people were just walking down the street or sitting in their living rooms watching NASCAR on a given Sunday and the US Military happened to "bust" em in some local round up of the usual suspects.

You know this how?



Most of these assholes were captured on the battlefield with gun, RPG, IED, etc... in hand!!

Same question?

:fu:

[Nitro Express]

I agree with the "NIMBY" reference, George Carlin did bits on that with building prisons for years....

But again, they've got a brand-new (and EMPTY) one in bumfuck Montana, maximum security....

You couldn't ask for a better location, could you ???

As long as it's eastern Montana. Western Montana is a great place. I own some property there.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

As long as it's eastern Montana. Western Montana is a great place. I own some property there.

Yup, Hardin's in SE Montana....

[ZahZoo]

You know this how?



Same question?



There's been a number of reports from very credible sources detailing who is housed at Gitmo... Go read a little. You might learn something...