SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Pat Quinn is offering to sell the state’s prison at Tamms to the federal government, the second time in less than three years that he’s courted Washington to buy a state penitentiary.

In a letter dated Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, Quinn told the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that the 14-year-old supermaximum-security lockup, which he plans to close by autumn, would be a “valuable addition” to the U.S. correctional system.

“Tamms is located in a rural area without major growth around the perimeter of the facility, which adds to the secured environment, but it enjoys access to the Interstate system located only a few miles away,” Quinn wrote to federal prisons director Charles Samuels.