U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says a western Illinois federal prison will be fully operational starting late next year. Durbin visited Thomson Administrative U.S. Penitentiary on Tuesday, saying the schedule is moving forward for the facility but much work remains to be done.
As a federal maximum-security prison, Thomson is expected to house up to 2,800 federal inmates from around the country and create about 100 more jobs.
Durbin announced in 2012 that the federal Bureau of Prisons would buy Thomson Prison for $165 million from Illinois. The state built it in 2001 but never had enough funds budgeted to make it fully operational.
Durbin says $14 million have been invested in the facility's extensive renovations. About 125 minimum-security prison inmates have been housed at an adjacent prison camp during construction.
