Jones said he canceled his contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) four years ago. The contract was for housing detainees awaiting immigration hearings and he said he cancelled it in 2021 due to the Biden administration’s regulations.
“I used to house ICE prisoners until the new president came in and I fired ‘em because they were going to fire me,” Jones said. “Hopefully that will change here in a few days and I’ll be back in the deportation business like I was before.”
The county had a contract with ICE from 2003 until June 2021 when the sheriff cancelled it, “We operate an efficient correctional facility and federal officials continue to add unreasonable and cost prohibitive mandates to hold these illegal immigrants,” he said at the time.
The jail here was one of five Ohio facilities used by ICE for detentions, the others were in Bedford Heights, Chardon, Mt. Gilead and Tiffin. The jails in Chardon and Tiffin are the only locations left in the state, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.
The sheriff houses inmates from county jurisdictions as well as those in cooperation with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons. Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said they once housed 160 ICE detainees “on a fairly regular basis.” The total inmate count last week was 657.
While beefing up revenues isn’t the main goal of housing ICE detainees again, Dwyer said it could be a byproduct.
“Immigration comes and goes, the numbers, so if they really dug in deep and really get aggressive with immigration policies and detaining illegals and deporting them, then what we do could be substantial. And we’re one of the few places that has space we aren’t occupying right now,” Dwyer said and later added. “In my opinion if the administration changes and they go back to a more secure border I think it’s the right thing for us to assist by housing those inmates until they can be properly deported.”
Boarding of prisoners revenue was $6.2 million in 2014, hovered in the $9 million to $10 million range for a few years and jumped to nearly $12 million the year the sheriff cancelled the ICE contract mid-year. Inmate rent dipped to $9.9 million in 2022 and $8.9 million last year. Year-to-date the sheriff has collected $6.7 million and they’ve budgeted $8.5 million for next year.
The sheriff’s Finance Director Vickie Barger said the spike in 2021 could be due to the fact that sometimes there have been late payments from the federal government and some of the money could have been billed but not paid the previous year.
Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News he has no problem with Jones contracting with ICE again if he chooses. He noted the county pays for holding local scofflaws, so it is good to get outside paying entities to use the facilities.
“Anything we can do to pick up revenue in the jail that fits his standards and his operations, I’m all for that,” Dixon said. “Obviously the more prisoners we have the more revenue it produces, unless it requires a lot more work to keep those prisoners in the rest of your population. It’s the sheriff’s call.”
The entire expense budget for the sheriff’s 2025 operations is estimated at $57.3 million — a 3.6% hike over this year —and nearly $49 million comes out of the general fund. The costs in the general fund are projected to increase 3.2%. Revenues for all funds are estimated at $21.1 million.
“This is important, $21 million bucks is what we bring in,” Jones said. “We try to run it as though it’s a business, we bring in money where we can, it’s not a tax but with the housing or prisoners and the other costs the courts allow us to retrieve or the contracts that we have, so bringing in $21 million the way we see it offsets our budget by close to a third if not more.”
Barger said another budget line item directly related to housing prisoners is expected to balloon by 5% next year to $1.2 million and that’s food. Dwyer said inmate meals are figured into the contracts with the federal government, so taking on ICE detainees won’t aggravate the food costs.
Another big unknown for next year is how much will be needed for salaries because they are negotiating new union contracts with all six bargaining units. Barger budgeted an across-the-board 3% hike for everyone — which amounts to nearly $900,000 more for wages.
“If they go above my projected 3% then I’d say every percent would add and additional $100,000-plus dollars,” Barger said.
The county commissioners have the final say over the budgets and they will pass the spending plan for next year in December.
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