Officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Defense and local representatives toured the Thomson facility on Monday. They did like the facility, saying it's well built. The thing they wanted to stress was what impact a federal prison would have on the area.

"We would employ 800-900 employees. The yearly operating budget would be in excess of 85-million dollars," says Harley Lappin, Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons. The positions created at the federal prison will be in high demand. Not all of them will be filled by people who currently work in the Thomson facility. "About 250 to 300 we would bring in from other existing locations because we would actually want to activate this prison with a wealth of experience," adds Lappin.

Since federal prisons are staffed by federal law enforcement agents, all current state employees at the Thomson Correctional Center would have to re-apply for their jobs. Lappin says, "They're going to have to compete just like others would, they're very, very competitive given that they have experience working in corrections and we will do whatever we can to assist those employees."

But the prison would also create new employment opportunities in the community. It's estimated $1 billion dollars would be pumped into the local economy with-in 4 years, and the local unemployment rate would be cut in half. Thousands of positions will be needed to support staff and their families moving to the area. Some of those jobs would come from 1200 military personnel who would work in the Guantanamo Bay detainees wing. "We would lease a small portion of the facility for a limited number of detainees whose custody would remain with the department of defense," according to Lappin.

To make sure the community is safe. A bigger perimeter would be built around the entire prison. The same rules that are in place in Guantanamo Bay would apply here. Only the Red Cross, diplomats and lawyers could visit terror suspects. "They would not have visitors here, we would not have friends and family here, so that's not a concern," says Phil Carter with the Department of Defense.

The officials also stressed there are hundreds of terror suspects housed in federal prisons in the United States, even in Southern Illinois. And there hasn't been any problems. "We have not seen threats of that nature. There are intelligence gathered on a daily basis that might imply that. But there is a investigative, analytical process at the federal, state and local level," says Lappin.

There is no timeline for when a decision will be made. Federal officials are looking at other options before they make their final selection.