Federal lawmakers: Hiring freeze could hurt Thomson Prison

THOMSON, Ill. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos have written a letter to the Department of Justice in an effort to keep a hiring freeze from affecting the Thomson Prison in northwestern Illinois.

Durbin and Bustos sent the letter Monday, saying that the freeze President Donald Trump ordered in January "has already forced the facility to postpone hiring a new class of incoming officers," the Dixon Telegraph (http://bit.ly/2nYV2qo ) reported.

The lawmakers say if the Justice Department doesn't exempt the Bureau of Prisons from Trump's hiring freeze, Thomson Prison's goal of accepting inmates by the end of the year may be delayed.

The justice department has given the bureau a partial exemption, allowing it to fill vacancies up to the staffing level on Jan. 22.

The letter said there are actually a "significant" number of vacancies that existed before then that can't be filled and no vacancies after Jan. 22 can be filled either because the actual staffing level itself hasn't been determined, creating a de facto complete hiring freeze.

The letter, which was also written by U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-WV, asked for a full exemption for the bureau, as has been granted to the FBI, another justice department agency, for national security and public safety reasons.

The letter said the bureau has spent months working to activate the facility in order to help alleviate overcrowding at high security institutions.

Durbin toured the maximum security prison in October, saying it was on track to open at the end of the year. The facility has been under renovation since June 2015.

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Information from: Dixon Telegraph, http://www.saukvalley.com