PRESS RELEASE – At today’s meeting of the Corrections Commission of Northwest Ohio meeting, board members will be voted 8-to-2 in favor of adding ICE inmates to their population.
These discussions began in August of 2023 when the jail was seeking options for filling available beds. “We have been working with the board and ICE for 18 months on securing a contract,” says Executive Director Dennis Sullivan.
“This is normal for us; we’ve partnered with other agencies or facilities since the 1990s to fill beds.”
Currently the jail contracts with the US Marshals, Bureau of Prisons, and Findlay Municipal Court for inmates. The facility’s history also includes agreements with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for Post Release Control and Regional Diversion programs, Hancock County, Paulding County, Cuyahoga County, TransCorp, and Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. This practice is how the jail has maintained cost-effectiveness through its 35 years of operations.
This agreement will fall under the US Marshal contract, paying $117/day for each inmate, plus mileage and officer transport time. The average length of stay will be 40-45 days for these inmates and they will not be released in the community.
When they leave CCNO, they will be placed on a flight that will relocate them back to their country of origin and will not be released from CCNO into the local communities.
“We have a process in place currently with federal inmates and it will just extend to ICE,” Sullivan cleared up. “We won’t take anyone we feel would be a security risk, like those with foreign gang affiliations or murderers.”
The jail currently has three housing units shut down, which provides adequate space for the additional inmates.
Filling available beds is the fiscally responsible solution for the local taxpayers as this is a way to supplement operational costs that would otherwise fall to the five member counties.
Lucas County representatives, Commissioner Pete Gerken and Sheriff Mike Navarre, were the two votes against the addition of ICE inmates at the regional jail. Both were given the floor during the meeting to express their concerns about this decision.