Federal officials tour Michigan prison where Guantanamo detainees could go

(...) Officials from the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Prisons and Justice are looking at Leavenworth in Kansas and Standish, where the 604-bed facility is slated to close by Oct. 1.

The state also is trying to lure inmates from other states to fill the prison, one of 8 slated to close in an effort to deal with a $1.7-billion budget deficit.

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, is adamantly opposed to have the Gitmo detainees in Michigan. As the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee, he has had access to classified information about the prisoners.

"It's unfair to the people of Standish to make that kind of decision without that information," he said during a phone interview with the Free Press this morning.

He's sending a letter to the U.S. departments of Justice and Defense asking them to allow Michigan and Standish officials to go down to Guantanamo Bay to see the prison and declassify the files on the prisoners.