The Obama administration is sending a team to inspect a maximum-security prison in Michigan that could be used to hold terrorism suspects now being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Representatives of the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments are expected to be along for the tour of the state prison in Standish, about 145 miles north of Detroit.

The Standish facility and a military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., are among sites being considered to house detainees if the prison in Cuba is closed by next year, as President Barack Obama has ordered.

Guantanamo Bay now holds 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters.

Some Standish residents want the prison to stay open, but are skittish about having suspected terrorists in their small, relatively rural town.

A local businessman says, "there's a difference between a homegrown criminal and a jihadist." He says their presence could make the area a terrorist target.