U.S. 'super-max' town OK on Gitmo move

FLORENCE, Colo., June 4 (UPI) -- Resting quietly in the shadow of the Rockies, the tranquil mountain town of Florence, Colo., would welcome Guantanamo detainees, some town officials say.

Florence also sits near one of the grimmest places on Earth, the federal government's only super-maximum prison, which already holds some inmates considered among the world's most dangerous felons.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a closing of the Guantamano, Cuba, military detention facility within a year and transfer of the remaining 240 inmates, some likely to the United States. He suggested Florence as a possible destination.

The subject has fueled heated debate in Washington with much opposition to relocating detainees in the United States. But, some Florence officials say they would welcome the move.

"There haven't been any escapes out there, and these guys aren't going anywhere," City Manager Tom Piltingsrud told the Los Angeles Times. "I brought it up at our local Rotary Club meeting on Thursday, and nobody voiced a concern."

"Nobody has ever escaped," Obama said last month, referring to the Florence prison dubbed the "Alcatraz of the Rockies."

Zacarias Moussaoui, known as "the 20th hijacker" for his attempts to join in the Sept. 11 2001 attacks, resides at the supermax prison. So do would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, Ramzi Yousef, who tried to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993, and Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

Inmates at the super0max prison spend their days and nights sealed in sound-proof concrete cells, USA Today said.

Most people on the outside never come in and most of the inmates never come out.