As of the census of 2000, there were 559 people, 234 households, and 160 families residing in the village. The population density was 253.2 people per square mile. There were 244 housing units at an average density of 110.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 97.32% White, 0.54% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.36% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.54% of the population. There were 234 households out of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.87. In the village, the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males. The median income for a household in the village was $36,667, and the median income for a family was $41,250. Males had a median income of $39,000 versus $22,143 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,261. About 4.5% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.6% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.
History
Prison
was opened in 2001, but as of 2009 has never had a prisoner in its main, 1600-bed maximum-security unit; the only prison population has been in the 200-bed minimum security unit, which was populated in 2006 and averages about 150 prisoners. The minimum security unit has an annual budget of $7 million. State budget constraints as well as labor union opposition to closing other state prisons prevented the maximum-security prison from opening. In 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich proposed to close the state prison in Pontiac, Illinois and to open the Thomson maximum-security unit instead. However, Blagojevich was subsequently arrested on December 9, 2008, and removed from office. His replacement, Governor Pat Quinn cancelled plans to close the Pontiac prison in March 2009, leaving Thomson unused. In 2009 the United States government announced that prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp would be moved to the prison in Thomson. CNN stated that before the decision was announced, many people in the town wanted the Guantanamo prisoners to be housed there so the town could get economic benefits. On December 15, 2009, President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to proceed with acquisition of the underutilized state prison in Thomson to be the new home for a limited number of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The facility was also be used as a Bureau of Prisons facility to house other federal inmates. In response to the 2009 presidential order, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which represents 13,000 Illinois prison staff, argued that rather than turn the maximum security unit over to the Federal government, it should be used to relieve overcrowding in other Illinois prisons. AFSCME claims that the other facilities were designed for 32,000 prisoners, but currently house 45,000. Subsequent Congressional banning of federal expenditures for imprisoning in the United States of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, stopped the Obama plans regarding those terror suspects, even though the federal government announced on October 2, 2012 that the acquisition of Thomson is going forward.
