Economy
Detention centre
Wanted: Guantanamo detainees to fill empty prison
Montana city submits bid to house prisoners
Last Updated: Friday, May 22, 2009 | 6:15 PM ET
CBC News
Guantanamo detainees pray before dawn near a fence of razor-wire, inside Camp 4 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)The last thing most American cities want is a prison filled with accused terrorists in their midst. But that's exactly what one impoverished Montana town is pinning its economic hopes on.
City councillors in the 3,400-strong community of Hardin voted unanimously April 22 on a resolution to push for detainees to be housed in their empty Two Rivers Detention Facility.
Hopes were high that the $27-million facility completed in 2006 would be a boon to the town, providing the community with at least 105 direct jobs, plus 20 more in food and other service sectors, says Greg Smith, the town's director of economic development.
But since it was built, the 494-bed private prison has been sitting vacant.
With unemployment hovering around 10 per cent, the town was relying heavily on the promise held out by a prison that would not only bring prisoners, but potential business as well.
The town claims the dubious title of poorest county in Montana and one of the poorest in the U.S.
"There are a lot of businesses here that, if you went through the town, you'd see a lot that were out of business and there's an awful lot that are just barely hanging on by the end of their fingernails," Smith told CBC's The Current.
Long fight for inmates
Around the time when U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Jan. 22 to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where about 250 detainees are housed, the seed of an idea was planted in Smith's mind.
"I had people calling here and saying, 'I've got the answer for you,'" said Smith. "You'd get some in jest, some serious. I'd run into them in the streets. I'd run into them at the watering hole.
"It became enough and I finally said — and I was having one of those rough days … and I picked up the phone and called the folks who helped put this together and I said, 'Get started.'"
The Two Rivers facility was never expected to sit vacant at all. When the town floated the proposal to the former Montana governor, the town was assured there would be inmates to fill the private prison's beds, they say. But that all fell through when a new governor took office in 2005, Mayor Ron Adams says.
Hardin has since been in a protracted fight with the state to fill its detention facility after the town was told it couldn't take out-of-state prisoners. Last June, the town sued and won its lawsuit to allow it to take in other prisoners, but it hasn't secured any takers.
When news hit in late March that Alexandria, Va., was under consideration to house Guantanamo detainees, Smith and others decided to get cracking on their bid for the inmates.
For Smith, the key selling point was not only that Two Rivers is turn-key ready, but the area would be easy to secure if needed due to its sparse population, lack of large buildings and few trees.
Mixed reactions
Obama has tried to assuage worries about housing the inmates on U.S. soil, insisting that any detention facility taking them would be highly secure and noting many already house "all manner of dangerous and violent criminals."
"Bear in mind the following fact: nobody has ever escaped from one of our federal super max prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists," he said in a speech Thursday.
But not everyone is pleased by the Hardin proposal.
Almost immediately after the town's resolution passed, Smith says he received an irate call from the office of Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus and negative letters from other Congressional representatives.
Baucus has been vocal in his criticism of the idea, telling Time Magazine recently that "no way, not on my watch" would al-Qaeda be allowed in Big Sky Country.
The town's mayor, too, was taken aback by news of the resolution.
Adams said he was visiting his great granddaughter in Phoenix when the resolution passed and learned about it from his daughter who spotted an item in a newspaper.
Silver lining
At issue for him is the lack of public consultation on the idea, the dangers posed by housing the "worst of the worst" in his community, and fear the controversial inmates could set up the community as a potential target.
Reactions from residents, meanwhile, have been mixed. While some agree there is economic potential, others question why the government would bring terrorists into the country when so many resources are spent on keeping them out.
But as the mayor notes, there may be a silver lining to it all.
"We're getting notoriety all over the world and maybe just maybe somebody that has prisoners, that would be more not-so-unique-type prisoner but less terrorist type, will call us and say, 'Gee whiz. Sorry to hear you're empty and maybe we can fill you up.'"
For now, Guantanamo detainees remain firmly locked in their military fortress.
Earlier this week, the Democratic-controlled Senate refused to approve the funds the government needs to close the prison.
