SPRINGFIELD, IL (IRN) - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is blaming a Virginia Republican in the House for holding up the sale of the state prison at Thomson to the federal government.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) chairs the appropriations subcommittee, which handles the Bureau of Prisons, and has said he does not want Guantanamo detainees coming to Illinois. Durbin says that’s not going to happen, and Wolf knows it.

Durbin says Wolf has spoken to him only a few times in the last 15 months. He says the sale has been agreed to for $165 million and has survived a court challenge.

The largely unused 11-year-old facility would become a maximum security federal prison. Durbin says the deal means about 1,100 jobs for the Quad Cities area.