The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons has committed $53.7 million in funding to the activation of Thomson Correctional Center in northwest Illinois. The announcement comes from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos (IL-17).
According to the release, $10 million is designated for renovation while $43.7 million will be used for staffing and equipment purchases and upgrades. The full activation of Thomson prison is expected to take two years at a cost of $25 million for upgrades and renovations and approximately $170 million for equipment and staffing.
The Thomson facility was built in 2001 as a maximum-security prison. The bulk of the facility was never occupied. In 2012, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced that the federal government had purchased Thomson Correctional Center for use as a maximum-security federal prison to alleviate crowding in the federal prison system.