A prison in Illinois is offering a sign-on bonus, in order to help fill their over 100 openings for correctional officers.  Reports say that a Thomson federal prison is offering bonuses of over $4,000, for new officers who start work by September 30th and serve satisfactorily for a year.  Illinois finished building the prison back in 2001, but it was not used for over a decade, since the state did not have the money to operate it.  The Bureau of Prisons announced that they would buy the facility in 2012, in order to alleviate overcrowding in the federal system and promote economic growth in the region.  The prison now has around 400 inmates and employees 217 guards.  The goal is to have between 800 and 900 inmates, with nearly 500 employees by the end of the year.