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Colorado Town Would Welcome Gitmo Inmates

Supermax is already home to Unabomber, '20th hijacker'

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 4, 2009 7:36 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Members of Congress have protested President Obama's efforts to move Guantanamo inmates to US prisons, but residents of Florence, Colo., say they wouldn't mind taking in a few enemy combatants. The supermax prison near town already holds some of the world's most infamous terrorists: a 1993 World Trade Center assailant, the Unabomber, and 9/11's "20th hijacker." "People here don't care about it," the editor of the town's local newspaper told the Los Angeles Times.

Two decades ago Florence's 3,600 citizens were desperate for jobs, so the city bought a parcel of land on the outskirts of town and handed it to the government to build a prison on. The 490-bed supermax is full to capacity and would need to be expanded to take in Gitmo's worst, but locals are more than happy for Obama to ship prisoners their way. "You hear a siren around here and you think 'accident' before you think 'prisoner,'" said one resident.

A guard stands in a cell block at the Camp Five detention facility on Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba, Sunday, May 31, 2009.
A guard stands in a cell block at the Camp Five detention facility on Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba, Sunday, May 31, 2009.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
Guards escort a detainee carrying a book at the Camp 4 detention facility at the US Military Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Guards escort a detainee carrying a book at the Camp 4 detention facility at the US Military Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
The sun rises over the Guantanamo detention facility at dawn, at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba.
The sun rises over the Guantanamo detention facility at dawn, at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
A guard stands outside the gate of Camp Iguana detention facility, which houses the Chinese Uighur Guantanamo detainees, who are cleared for release but have no country to go to.
A guard stands outside the gate of Camp Iguana detention facility, which houses the Chinese Uighur Guantanamo detainees, who are cleared for release but have no country to go to.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Yourself
Jun 4, 2009 3:28 AM CDT
i've only been suggesting Colorado's supermax for about two years now!!! god damn people are stupid when they say "we can't let them in the country!" it's not like we're letting them run around the country, we'd still be keeping them in SUPERMAX!!!! the list of high risk inmates is rather impressive : Unabomber, Terry Nichols, the shoe bomber, eric Robert Rudolph, Moussaoui, Ramzi Yusef (World trade center bomber) John Walker Lindh and a bunch of others... it's not like a few more will hurt!
Timinator2K
Jun 4, 2009 1:19 AM CDT
The Gitmo Clan of the Greatly Misunderstood are gonna miss their Cuban tropical paradise accommodations after they move into a Colorado Super Max featuring four cell walls 24/7/365. OMG! Talk about torture!
psycada
Jun 4, 2009 1:02 AM CDT
Well, there you have it. Now we can close Gitmo. Problem resolved.

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prison • Guantanamo Bay • detainee • federal prison • Colorado • Guantanamo prisoners • Supermax

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