Dick Durbin: “do the math. A Federal prisoner held in a Federal prison in America today costs us about $30,000 a year. The most…”

“do the math. A Federal prisoner held in a Federal prison in America today costs us about $30,000 a year. The most serious and dangerous criminal prisoners held in the Federal prison system are put in supermax facilities for $86,000 a year. That is the cost. Not a single prisoner has ever escaped from a supermax facility in the United States--ever. It costs $30,000 for routine prisoners and $86,000 for the most dangerous. What does it cost us to incarcerate one detainee each year at Guantanamo? It costs $5 million apiece--$5 million for each detainee. The budget to keep Guantanamo open is about $500 million a year, and we have fewer than 100 detainees there, and there is a request for another $200 million in construction at Guantanamo. So when Senators come to the floor and say we have got to keep Guantanamo open for fewer than 100 detainees, one obviously has to ask the question: Is there another place they can be held just as safely, just as securely, at considerably less cost? The answer is obvious. The answer is clear. The supermax Federal prisons can hold anyone convicted of terrorism, serial murder, or heinous crimes, and can hold them securely without any fear of escape. The argument was made by the Senator from Kentucky: Well, if we are going to put terrorists in prisons across America instead of Guantanamo, that is a danger to the community. Really? I represent the State of Illinois. We have the Marion Federal Prison in southern Illinois.…”