Hundreds gather for hearing on detainee prison

STERLING, Ill. (AP) - Emotions are running high at a public hearing on a plan to bring alleged terrorists to a rural western Illinois prison.

Gov. Pat Quinn plans to sell the Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government. It would be used to house up to 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and as a federal maximum-security prison.

More than 300 people filled the Sterling High School auditorium to near-capacity Tuesday for the hearing.

Opponents groaned and hissed when Quinn's chief operating officer, Jack Levin, testified that his boss "would never do anything that puts people at risk." He also told the panel the prison would be "the most secure" in the nation.

Supporters say the prison would bring thousands of jobs to struggling northwest Illinois.