Montana town wants its empty jail to be new Gitmo

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer Matthew Brown, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 23, 8:23 pm ET

BILLINGS, Mont. President Barack Obama has 240 terror suspects he has said will be moved out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. The city of Hardin has a brand-new empty jail.

A match made in heaven? Hardin officials think so; Montana's congressional delegation thinks not.

The development authority in Hardin, a city of 3,400 people bordering the Crow Indian Reservation, built the $27 million, 460-bed jail two years ago and has been looking for tenants ever since. Its construction loans are in default.

The City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday in favor of a resolution supporting a proposal to house terror suspects currently detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay while they await trial.

"Somebody has to stand up and put (the Guantanamo prisoners) in their backyards. It's our patriotic duty," said Greg Smith, director of the city's Two Rivers Authority.

"Not on my watch," U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said.

The Montana Democrat said the detainees' presence would be a security risk to the community and exceed the capacity of the U.S. District Court in Billings, which would have jurisdiction over their cases.

The rest of the state's congressional delegation Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg agreed that bringing Guantanamo prisoners to Montana is a bad idea, though they support efforts to find some other use for the jail.

Smith said the city has sent out marketing packages to all 50 states, and the jail has hosted visits by prison officials from Colorado, Wyoming and other jurisdictions. Attempts to land contracts with the federal Bureau of Prisons and Montana Department of Corrections have been rejected.

Smith acknowledged that the city's chances of getting the Guantanamo prisoners are slim but insisted that holding them would not be different from handling any other kind of prisoner.

"You have hardened criminals in jail all around the state, you have sexual offenders. When they're in jail, they're not a whole lot different," he said.



We(holdemans)have a church in Hardin, Montana called, Big Horn Valley Mennonite Church. I see some real possibilities here, the chance to witness to these terrorists. They could start out with singing to them. Singing in front of the Islamic Muslim terrorists could be regarded as Shock and Awe the first time because they would have never seen or heard anything like it. Then they could preach there on Sunday mornings. Would there be any conversions? Just sayin'.....

(written in sort of a tongue in cheek manner)

Ha, this is funny to me, I used to live in that area! Jails and prisons, the last growth industries of America.

lol - I'm pretty sure our new President is against torture. And as beautiful as four-part harmony might be to OUR ears - I'm pretty sure that forcing Muslims to listen to Christian singing and proselytizing might just fall in the same category as waterboarding.

So - I'm confused about something in the article. How does a jail earn revenue? I guess I had always seen jails as being on the other side of the balance sheet. A liability - allbeit a necessary one. So how does a jail get built if not with taxes? And how do construction loans not get paid if not through mis-management or mis-calculation of tax revenue - or downturn in economy (if the taxes would be affected)? I can get that Colorado or Wyoming or such would pay the Billings jail to house their inmates - but doesn't this all mean that the jail was built before it could be afforded?

Yup - it's Sophia asking for education again! Hey - what can I say. I'm a curious woman who likes to understand things! Of course - once I do - I'll have a set-in-stone opinion about it I'm sure!! I DO have German/Holdeman ancestry after all!

Sophia,

Many jails in the US are built larger then the local population could possibly fill in order to "rent" the excess beds to the state or feds for the housing of state or federal prisoners that are either awaiting sentencing or are "overflow" from the prison systems (this can include housing illegal immigrants awaiting hearings or deportation). Jail staff are generally well paid, often union, and receive good benefits, therefore they are used as economic booms and are often easily supported by the voters (in spite of the enourmous cost to build. The same holds true for prisons, ever notice how prisons are built in remote and/or economically depressed areas?). As a closing note, I read recently that the US has a higher percentage of its population incarcerated then any other "first world" country.

>I'm pretty sure that forcing Muslims to listen to Christian singing and proselytizing might just fall in the same category as waterboarding.wink< <br>

Sophia, how about this - an eye for an eye...they want to force Allah and Islam on us so we will force Jesus and Christianity on them..sound like a deal?

Sophia

The way I understand this is Hardin officials think the tourism dollars generated by having these exotic prisoners in town will more than offset the costs associated with this enterprise.

Hey, you gotta love it. It's the American way! 

FB - so it sounds like some poor planning then - to build a jail without customers lined up beforehand! Thanks for the education though - I've truly never spent time thinking about jails being a positive for an economy. I would have passed off the 'build them in remote areas' as 'not by my house'.

So what do you conclude from US having a higher percentage of it's pop incarcerated?

GM - Seriously? When have you had a Muslim try to force Allah and Islam on you? I have never had that happen. I find that the only religion that regularly talks about - and works to convert - people to their religion. I work with many Muslims - and Hindu - and have never ever had them even bring up the subject of their beliefs. Where does this happen to you?

OS - Now that is sad - but possibly true. Not to mention all the people picketing for both sides, etc.- all need hotel rooms and food to eat! Good grief!

I see a difference in having a prison in my state full of serial killers...and one full of gitmo detainees. First - I trust that by this point - that these detainees have been vetted. Yup - that means I'm trusting my gov. So I think that they are tied to radical Islam. I have never heard of a serial killer's family - or a serial killer's 'organization' - working to free the prisoner - or being willing to take family hostages - or threaten even an entire town or area where the prison might be in order to free their 'members'. That's why I'm against gitmo detainees being on our soil. We already have open borders that allow radical islamists to come and go pretty much as they please - to then put those we have detained in a spot where deadly pressure can be brought to bear to free them is just ludicrous to me.

From what I understand from a local resident there the town built a new prison t ofederal specifications. When it was built the feds were looking for for jail space to rent and the town saw it as a way to generate local jobs. Sometime between design and completion the feds changed the requirements for prisons and were no interested in using it. Nobody wanted to put more money in remodeling a new facility. I heard it was built like a dormatory with 20-30 bunks in a large open room.

Check! Check! Reality Check! Getting kicked around for telling it like it is since 2005!!