SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn took the first formal step Wednesday to sell the mostly empty Thomson Correctional Center.

In documents filed with a legislative review panel, Quinn's prison chief outlined why the administration believes selling the facility to the federal government to house prisoners from the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay makes sense.

"This will provide an unprecedented boon to the regional economy," noted Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle.

The documents submitted to the General Assembly's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability represent the opening salvo in what could become a contentious public hearing process over the controversial move.

While Quinn says the proposal will bring jobs to northwest Illinois, some Republicans say Illinois shouldn't become host to the terrorist detainees.

On Wednesday, Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Northbrook again called the Thomson plan "flawed."

Kirk, who is running for GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, complained that a top Obama administration official charged with overseeing the move of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Thomson had recently resigned.

"The administration is left with many unanswered questions and no key officials to advance this flawed proposal," Kirk noted.

Although the legislative commission - consisting of 12 members of the House and Senate -will get a chance to weigh in on the proposed sale, they can only issue an advisory opinion.

The decision to file Wednesday sets in motion a process in which public hearings could be held in late December.

Randle cautioned, however, that the federal government has not approved the deal.

"Submission of this letter and recommendation should not be construed as an indication that the federal government has reached any decision regarding purchasing Thomson and is not intended to have any influence on the same," Randle noted.

In outlining the case for closing Thomson, Randle says the state doesn't have the $54 million needed to operate the 1,600-cell maximum-security prison, which was completed in 2001, but never fully opened.

At the same time, he cites White House estimates that say employment at the facility if it were sold to the federal government could rise to more than 3,800 people within four years.

A price tag for the prison has not been set. In addition to the $128 million cost to build the facility, the state has spent more than $34 million on maintenance and barebones operations since 2001.

Randle says closing the prison won't harm other maximum-security state prisons because demand for new maximum-security space isn't as high as was anticipated when Thomson was built.

He doesn't mention that the administration also is considering closing the maximum-security portion of Stateville Correctional Center. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents prison workers, is opposed to the sale.

"This filing fails to even mention the well-known overcrowding crisis in state prisons, especially maximum-security facilities that are jammed with thousands more inmates than they were built to hold," said AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall. "IDOC has an obligation to show how it will reduce that crowding and safely incarcerate inmates, and our union will fight to protect our members and make sure these basic questions are answered, not ignored."

Thomson currently is home to about 180 minimum-security inmates, who would be moved to the East Moline Correctional Center, which has excess bed space, Randle said.

Of the existing 78 workers at Thomson, 40 will go to East Moline, with the remaining 38 being targeted for the prison in Dixon.