SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Pat Quinn confirmed Saturday that federal officials are eyeing the purchase of the largely unused state prison in Thomson.

In a statement issued Saturday morning, Quinn said senior officials of the Obama administration will visit the maximum-security lockup in Carroll County to see if the virtually vacant, state-of-the-art facility can be used by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The proposal, first reported Friday by the Herald & Review Springfield Bureau, could resolve problems for the state and federal governments.

Quinn said overcrowding in federal prisons is a serious issue and one of the reasons why Bureau of Prisons officials are interested in viewing Thomson Correctional Center.

For Illinois, such a proposal could take a long-dormant facility off its hands while providing hundreds of jobs in the region.

It is not known if the prison would be used to house detainees from the Guantanamo Bay terrorist camp in Cuba.

"As always, Gov. Quinn's first priority is public safety and security, an issue that will definitely be part of any future discussions with federal prison authorities regarding Thomson," the statement from the governor's office noted.

In a news release issued Saturday evening, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, said he would oppose any plan to bring Guantanamo prisoners to the facility in Thomson.

Illinois built the 1,600-cell facility in 2001 for about $140 million. It never was fully opened because of state budget problems. About 200 minimum-security inmates are housed there.

Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., have scheduled a series of news conferences today to discuss the proposal further. The fly-around includes an 11 a.m. stop at the Quad-Cities airport in Milan and later stops in Chicago and Rockford.

Michael Randle, Illinois Department of Corrections director, and Jonathan Monken, Illinois State Police director, will accompany Durbin and the governor.

kurt.erickson@lee.net|789-0865