A few US cities hope to host Gitmo transplants

MARION, Ill. -- Once the nation's most secure prison, the federal lockup in southern Illinois has housed everyone from spies to a Colombian druglord to dapper mob boss John Gotti. Now the mayor of Marion hopes to roll out the welcome mat for a new set of accused criminals: Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects. While other cities across the U.S. have balked at taking in any of the more than 200 detainees from the infamous lockup in Cuba that President Barack Obama hopes to shutter, Marion is part of a small contingent seeking out the prisoners - and the money and jobs they might bring. "We have the facility, and I say bring them on," Mayor Robert Butler said. Butler would have to clear many hurdles before that would happen, chief among them persuading the Bureau of Prisons to restore his town's medium-security prison to its... [read full story]                    

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