A federal program allowing illegal immigrant inmates to get out of prison if they agree to be deported was trumpeted by Rhode Island’s governor as a sensible way to save money in his cash-strapped state, which was already saddled with costs blamed on such prisoners.News from the Boston Herald.

After all, such early deportation programs have saved millions of dollars in states like Georgia and Arizona, resulting in thousands of illegal immigrants being sent home before they completed their sentences.

But a year and a half after Rhode Island signed up for the initiative, not one person has been deported early and the program hasn’t saved any money. That’s because of the relatively small population of illegal immigrants at the state prisons — called the Adult Correctional Institutions — and the strict criteria required of inmates to participate.

Regardless, state officials say the Rapid REPAT program, under the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, remains sound public policy — even if it’s untested here.

Some advocates for immigrants’ rights say the lack of early deportations suggests the problem of illegal immigration has been exaggerated in the state by Gov. Don Carcieri and others.

“To the extent that it dispels myths about the ACI being overrun with undocumented immigrants, it’s a good thing,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Illegal immigrants accused of crimes are sometimes deported before trial in instances where they’re picked up by federal immigration authorities. Some local law enforcement agencies around the country are trying to speed the removal process by using fingerprint technology to check both the criminal background and immigration status of arrestees during the booking process.

Rapid REPAT, however, focuses on illegal immigrants already convicted and imprisoned. Proponents say it spares states the cost of incarcerating inmates who’d probably be deported anyway, allowing immigrant inmates to return to their home countries without completing their sentences.

To qualify, inmates must be nonviolent offenders who have received final deportation orders and who have exhausted or waived appeals of their criminal convictions and agree not to fight their removal. They cannot return to the United States after deportation. Inmates must volunteer to participate in the program.

“To us, if we identify one person, one criminal alien, and get him off the streets and out of the country, we’re happy,” said Todd Thurlow, assistant field officer for ICE’s Boston field office.

ICE touts major cost-savings in other states that use Rapid REPAT or similar programs.

In Georgia, the bureau says Rapid REPAT and a predecessor program had saved $204 million and removed 3,612 criminal aliens as of August 2009. And ICE says its Phoenix field office has removed nearly 2,700 people since 2005 under a program that authorizes the deportation of some foreign-born inmates who have served half their sentences.

But in Rhode Island, where suspected illegal immigrants account for fewer than 5 percent of the state’s roughly 3,700 inmates, the stringent criteria have winnowed the already narrow pool of potential participants. Patricia Coyne-Fague, chief legal counsel for the Department of Corrections, said she had identified only one inmate who satisfied the criteria, but the prisoner had either already completed his sentence or was about to.

Prisoners who are illegal immigrants are still being deported upon completing their sentences, just as they were before Rapid REPAT. And the number of participants would clearly be bigger if the criteria were broadened to include violent criminals like Marco Riz, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala sentenced last year to 30 years for rape.

“It’s not that it doesn’t work, and it’s not that we don’t have a system in place,” Coyne-Fague said. “We just haven’t had that person yet.”

U.S. immigration authorities signed the first Rapid REPAT deal with Puerto Rico in July 2008. Rhode Island signed on the following month, followed by Georgia. The program is modeled after similar efforts in New York and Arizona.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year proposed commuting the sentences of thousands of immigrants in state custody to save more than $180 million, though he has not released any inmates to the federal government for deportation. Oregon this month signed an agreement with ICE to remove some undocumented prisoners who are within six months of completing their sentences.

Rhode Island’s involvement was an outgrowth of Carcieri’s 2008 executive order cracking down on the state’s illegal immigrants, which the Pew Hispanic Center estimates at between 20,000 and 35,000.

At the time, he said the state could not “afford to bear the financial burden of providing housing and rehabilitative treatment to inmates who committed crimes while here illegally.”

His spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, said the administration remains committed to Rapid REPAT.

“If there are criminals residing in our prisons who are here in this country illegally … the state of Rhode Island should not be picking up the tab for their incarceration,” she said.

David Quiroa, president of the Guatemalan-American Alliance in Rhode Island, said he supports the concept of Rapid REPAT. But he thinks the governor’s crackdown sparked unnecessary fear and used illegal immigrants as a scapegoat for the state’s fiscal woes. He said it’s misleading to focus on the minority of illegal immigrants in the state who are imprisoned.

“I’m sure we have criminals, if you will, but I think the majority of the community are just trying to do their best for their families and are just trying to be part of the larger communities in a positive way,” he said.

janchavarie ICE, Rhode Island

A planned overhaul of the immigration detention system might result in fewer concrete cells and lower fences — but it won’t mean more releases, even with electronic ankle monitors, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said Wednesday.  Report from the AP.

Morton announced last week that his agency would re-evaluate the scattered, 33,400-bed system that holds immigrants awaiting court hearings or deportation. He said it would seek to treat nonviolent people who aren’t a flight risk differently from those with felony convictions facing mandatory detention and deportation.

That raised hopes — and worries — that ICE might reduce the number of incarcerated immigrants by counting electronic ankle-monitoring, house arrest or some other non-institutional confinement as “detention.”  But Morton told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “I don’t think the overall number of detention beds will decrease significantly. It will remain roughly the same.”  The agency will still look at whether alternatives, like electronic monitoring, can be used to ensure immigrants attend court hearings and comply with deportation orders — but will not use them to replace the housing of substantial numbers of people in government-funded facilities, he said.

“That’s incredibly disappointing,” said Andrea Black, coordinator for Detention Watch Network, which represents immigrant advocacy groups. “The changes aren’t going to address the fundamental problem, which is the overemphasis on the use of detention.”  Currently, most detained immigrants, including elderly women, families and asylum seekers, are held in jail-style facilities converted or contracted for ICE use. Morton said such space will still be appropriate for immigrants convicted of serious crimes or others deemed to be dangerous, but many people could be held in facilities that are more like dormitories, with lower exterior fences and fewer restrictions inside.   Some existing ICE facilities could be converted, or new structures specifically designed for ICE may be sought, he said. The overhaul is expected to take several years.  “We detain a whole host of people and they often have different characteristics, and our system needs to recognize that,” Morton said.   ICE detainees face only civil immigration proceedings, not criminal charges, and Morton said the agency needs to recognize its power to hold people is civil in nature — a distinction that immigrant advocates have applauded.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said his group, which supports lower immigration, was concerned about Morton’s announcement last week. It wants to ensure that previous policies allowing immigrants released with an order to appear in court — known as “catch and release” rules — aren’t reinstated. Such policies allowed most immigrants to ignore court hearings or deportation, he said. “Everyone concedes that catch-and-release was a complete failure and waste of resources,” he said.  But he said the group does not oppose the use of less jail-like conditions to detain immigrants.  “Our position is that people ought to be held in appropriate facilities, especially where families are concerned. If they have those facilities available, by all means, they should be using them,” Mehlman said.

Morton said last week that the much-derided T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas, would be emptied of families and converted to a women’s facility. The use of the former prison to hold families with young children outraged immigrant advocates, and Black said she and others were pleased Morton decided to end the practice. Morton said Wednesday that families were already being moved out of the facility, and he expects everyone to be out in the next several months “at the most.”

jakking Federal Systems, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Attorney David Kennedy says clients of his who have been held in immigration detention centers in South Georgia and eastern Alabama routinely are denied fundamental rights. On the eve of a new immigration detention center opening in Gainesville GA, a report issued this week by National Immigration Law Center appears to validate Kennedy’s complaints.  Reported by the Gainesville Times.

The report, based on confidential Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents obtained in litigation, alleges there are pervasive problems throughout the country’s immigration detention facilities, many of which are operated by private contractors. Detainees are routinely denied visitation with family members, access to legal materials and regular recreation, according to the report. Many never get an explanation of their rights while being detained, the report claims.  “The conditions are much more harsh than they ought to be,” said the report’s co-author, Ranjana Natarajan. “This is a civil detention, and these folks are being treated like hardened criminals.”

The Corrections Corporation of America could begin boarding immigration detainees at its new North Georgia Detention Center on Main Street as soon as next week. The site of the old county jail adjoining the Hall County Sheriff’s office underwent $4 million in renovations and is being leased from Hall County for $2 million a year. CCA operates the detention center through an agreement with ICE and the county.

This week, ICE officials did not deny the allegations contained in the report, vowing to continue to improve conditions. But Department of Homeland Security officials recently decided against creating uniform detention center standards that the National Immigration Law Center wants. ICE is supposed to conduct yearly evaluations of every detention center, but has no enforceable, binding legal rules on how inmates are treated, according to the report. It creates a lot of gray area,” Natarajan said. “Because (detention centers) are not expected to follow the rules, they’re all over the map.”

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said agency officials “feel the NILC put together a very thoughtful report, and we will carefully review and take seriously this report, as we would any report. We are committed to continuously improving our immigration detention system.”  Gonzalez noted that within 10 days of taking office, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano ordered all immigration enforcement policies to undergo a review, “including detention.” In February, Napolitano appointed former Arizona Department of Corrections director Dora Schriro as a special advisor for detention and removal. “Her position was created to focus exclusively on the significant growth in detention and detainment in the last few years,” Gonzalez said.

On any given day, ICE holds about 33,000 immigration detainees in facilities across the country, and supervises another 17,000 people facing deportation through electronic monitoring and other means. The National Immigration Law Center estimates that in 2008 about 220,000 people were held in detention centers prior to deportation. The typical stay is 30 to 90 days.   The Gainesville facility operated by CCA is expected to hold about 500 low- and medium-security immigration detainees, many of them from North Carolina.   CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant referred questions on this week’s report to ICE officials, but noted that “CCA does adhere in every one of our ICE detention facilities to the detention standards set by our customer.” The company also has ICE officials on site for detainee access, Grant said.

This week’s report prompted two U.S. senators to call for a change to the system. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Thursday introduced the “Strong Standards Act,” a proposed bill that would set minimum detention standards and require the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that laws concerning the treatment of detainees are enforced.  “These legislative initiatives will help reinforce what our great country has always stood for: liberty, the rule of law and basic human rights,” Menendez said in a statement.  To Kennedy, anything would be an improvement.  “If we’re comparing these (detention centers) to their Turkish counterparts, they’re pretty good,” Kennedy said. “But by U.S. standards, they’re pretty poor.”

jakking Federal Systems, Georgia, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Local officials in the San Diego area have approved the Corrections Corporation of America’s plans for a prison to house more than 2,000 illegal aliens.  Story from the UPI.

The 40-acre site on Otay Mesa is close to a San Diego County prison and to the San Diego Correctional Facility, which Corrections Corp. of America already operates under contract to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CCA’s plans call for 1,488 beds in the first phase of the new facility and 684 in the second, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday. The existing immigrant detention center holds 700 people. The county planning commission approved the plans last month, the newspaper said. The existing CCA facility is on land with a lease that expires in 2015. The company has bought the site for the new prison.

jakking CA San Diego County, CCA, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Private Prisons

The Obama administration is expanding immigration checks to nearly all local jails, which could sharply increase U.S. deportation cases, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

By matching inmates’ fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time and where inmates come and go more quickly. The effort is likely to significantly reshape immigration enforcement, current and former executive branch officials said …

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made it “very clear” that her top priority is deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, said David J. Venturella, program director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We mean this, we’re serious about it, and we believe we need to put in an all-out effort to get this done,” said Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security …

The program began as a pilot effort in October and operates in 48 counties across the country, including Fairfax County. This year, fingerprints from 1 million local jail bookings will be screened under the program. It also operates Dallas, Houston, Miami, Boston and Phoenix, according to ICE, and will expand to Los Angeles this year and nearly all local jails by the end of 2012. The effort differs from programs in several Northern Virginia counties where local law enforcement officers have been deputized to question suspects about whether they are in the country legally.

Under the new program, the immigration checks will be automatic: Fingerprints currently being run through the FBI’s criminal history database also will be matched against immigration databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security … Based on the pilot program, the agency estimates that if fingerprints from all 14 million bookings in local jails each year were screened, about 1.4 million “criminal aliens” would be found, Venturella said. That would be about 10 times the 117,000 criminal illegal immigrants ICE deported last year …

Venturella said ICE will give priority to deporting the most dangerous offenders: national security risks or those convicted of violent crimes. Based on initial projections, the agency estimates that 100,000 of these are “Level 1 offenders” and that deporting them would cost $1.1 billion over four years. Removing all criminal illegal immigrants would cost $3 billion, ICE estimated last year.

The long article in The Washington Post has more detail and background.

jakking Federal Payments, Federal Systems, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Some lawmakers still don’t understand why cash-strapped Michigan is keeping foreign criminals behind bars rather than handing them off to the federal government for immediate deportation.  This report from the Lansing State Journal.

Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith would let state inmates with deportation orders be moved to federal custody after serving at least half their minimum sentence. A House subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the measure Tuesday.”Why should our taxpayers be paying for the care, housing and feeding of prisoners for whom the federal government has papers sending them home?” asked Smith …

Michigan now requires all prisoners to serve their minimum term before being considered for release.  Smith’s bill would relax the law so some immigrant inmates here illegally or whose conviction requires deportation are turned over to federal authorities earlier. Murderers, rapists and habitual offenders couldn’t qualify for an early exit from the country.

The measure has hit resistance from [some] lawmakers who worry that everything from fairness issues to the complexities of immigration law make it unworkable.  Rep. John Proos said it’s unfair to release foreigners early when Americans in the state’s prisons would have to serve longer. “What is the response by the victims and their families who now see justice denied by one-half?” he asked …

As of March, Michigan had 156 inmates with final deportation orders who could be freed immediately to be shipped home by the federal government if Smith’s legislation is approved, her office said. Sixty-six were from Mexico, 17 from Cuba and 11 from Iraq.  Another 55 prisoners potentially could be handed over if a final deportation order is entered. Hundreds of other foreign nationals are serving time for murder or criminal sexual conduct, were sentenced as habitual offenders or haven’t got halfway through their sentence, so they would be ineligible for the switch …

The legislation is modeled after programs in New York, Arizona and – most recently – Rhode Island. The states work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to identify and deport convicts if their offenses are considered nonviolent. The governors of Washington and New Hampshire recently pitched similar plans.ICE says New York has saved $140 million since 1995 through its criminal deportation program. Arizona has saved $18 million in detention costs since 2005. More than 114,000 criminals were removed from the U.S. in the past fiscal year.

jakking Early Release, Economic Issues, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Michigan

Faced with a budget crunch that forced him to lay off deputies, El Paso County CO Sheriff Terry Maketa has tapped a new source of revenue: illegal immigrants.  Report from the Denver Post.

Maketa has started leasing space in his jail to house an average of 150 immigrants a night for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also sent 17 jail deputies for training in immigration procedures so they can initiate deportations without waiting for federal agents.  ICE pays $62.40 a night for each detained immigrant, plus mileage for transport in sheriff’s vans. The arrangement pumped $3.6 million into El Paso County over the past year and now provides 10 percent of the jail’s budget.

But Maketa said the money is just one factor driving his broadening alliance with ICE.  “I feel like we’re truly contributing to (solving) a national problem,” said Maketa, one of 67 law enforcement agency chiefs nationwide who have had deputies authorized to enforce federal immigration laws … Several Denver-area sheriffs — annoyed at delays in relying on a limited number of ICE agents to handle possible illegal immigrants in jails — say they’re considering sending deputies for federal ICE training.   There’s support from taxpayers to take the next step” in immigration enforcement, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said …

On any given night, most jails in the Denver area and across Colorado hold suspected illegal immigrants. Under state law, jailors must notify ICE and, if ICE is interested and able, the agency places a hold on the inmate. If ICE agents fail to pick up the inmate within 48 hours, the inmate is released when local charges are resolved.  But that raises public safety concerns and is not something the public wants, said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who added that he, like other sheriffs, had previously been reluctant to take on an immigration role. “Everybody’s attitude was: ‘That’s the job of the federal government, and we’re not going to do it for them.’ Well, when the federal government isn’t doing their job, the sheriffs get frustrated and the citizens get frustrated,” Cooke said. “We’re going to do the right thing for the citizens of our counties.”

On a recent night in Maketa’s El Paso County jail, more than 200 immigrants from Mexico, Taiwan and elsewhere were incarcerated … [D]eputies immediately start federal deportation proceedings — and start billing ICE for the cost of housing those inmates.  “When county budgets are decreasing, this is a revenue source,” detention bureau chief Paula Presley said …

Denver authorities oppose any increased collaboration with federal agents, beyond the notification all counties must make, under state law, when suspected illegal immigrants are jailed for crimes.  “We don’t help out the IRS either,” said Bill Lovingier, Denver undersheriff and director of corrections. Enforcing the civil offense of being in the country illegally “is a federal responsibility. It’s a federal issue. If they want local help, they should provide us resources. We are already stretched.”   The County Sheriffs of Colorado association remains “quite strongly against doing the feds’ work” on immigration, executive director Don Christensen said. “We feel we can’t get the support from the federal government that we should have. When we do find (illegal immigrants), they don’t come and get them. They fill up our jails and we have to turn them loose,” he said.

A great deal more information and background is available in the article at Denver Post.

jakking CO El Paso County, Economic Issues, ICE, Illegal Aliens

An immigration status operation by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Monterey County Jail this weekend revealed that 68 inmates may face deportation after their release, officials said.

The operation was part of ICE’s Criminal Alien Program, a program that identifies criminal aliens who are incarcerated in federal, state and local facilities, ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said.   Haley said those identified will complete their sentences before they are handed over to ICE for removal proceedings. Haley said some may be eligible to take their case to immigration courts while others will be deported immediately. “This program is to enhance public safety,” Haley said …

Though ICE and the Sheriff’s Office work on these operations, the issue of immigration mainly falls on ICE, said Cmdr. Mike Richards of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.

More detail and background in the article at The Californian.

jakking CA Monterey County, California, ICE, Illegal Aliens

At a time when local law enforcement agencies are being forced to cut budgets and freeze hiring, cities across Southern California have found a growing source of income — immigration detention.  This report from the Los Angeles Times.

Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s immigrant detainees are held in local jails, and the payments to cities and counties for housing them have increased as the federal government has cracked down on illegal immigrants with criminal records and outstanding deportation orders.

Washington paid nearly $55.2 million to house detainees at 13 local jails in California in fiscal year 2008, up from $52.6 million the previous year. The U.S. is on track to spend $57 million this year.  The largest federal contract in the state is with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose 1,400-bed detention center in Lancaster is dedicated to housing immigrants either awaiting deportation or fighting their cases in court. The department received $34.7 million in 2008, up from $32.3 million the previous year.  Some smaller cities have seen their income rise much faster. Glendale received nearly $260,000 in 2008, triple what it got the previous year. In Alhambra, last year’s $247,000 was more than double the previous year’s payments.

For some cash-strapped cities, the federal money has become a critical source of revenue, covering budget shortfalls and saving positions.  Santa Ana’s Police Department, for example, expects as much as a 15% budget cut and has had a hiring freeze since October that has resulted in more than 60 sworn and civilian positions remaining vacant, Police Chief Paul Walters said. To offset reductions, Walters plans to convert two multipurpose rooms at the 480-bed jail into dormitory rooms this spring. That will accommodate an additional 32 immigrant detainees, which he expects will bring in $1 million more in revenue each year. He also hopes to get approval to raise the nightly price per detainee from $82 to $87.
“We treat [the jail] as a business,” Walters said. “The cuts could have been much deeper if it weren’t for the ability to raise money there” …

The federal contracts cover nearly the entire cost of the jail, said Russell Davis, the jail administrator. On a recent day, the jail housed 20 Santa Ana arrestees, 283 U.S. Marshals prisoners and 165 immigration detainees. Some of the detainees, from Mexico, Vietnam, El Salvador and elsewhere, had landed in immigration custody after serving state prison sentences. Others were arrested after ignoring deportation orders or because of criminal records that made them eligible for deportation.     The contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency brought in more than $3.7 million in 2007 and $4.8 million last year.  If he had to do it all over again, Davis said, he would have built another floor on the jail.

There is a lot more detailed background in the article at the Los Angeles Times.

jakking CA Los Angeles County, California, Economic Issues, Federal Payments, ICE, Illegal Aliens

A new corrections audit raises questions whether Atlanta GA should continue to operate a city jail, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The report released Friday found that the city jail was over budget six of the last seven years —- despite two revenue-generating contracts to house prisoners for Fulton County and two federal agencies. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, the department was about $4 million over budget, the audit found.  Both deals, the audit found, actually cost Atlanta way more money than they generate.  Atlanta houses inmates for Fulton County, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at a rate of $68 per day —- a loss of about $20 a day, the auditors found.

Leslie Ward, Atlanta’s internal auditor, said the city relies far too much on overtime because of chronic absenteeism among jailers. She also found that some space inside the jail isn’t properly used.  “I’m starting to wonder why we are in the jail business,” Ward said … About 1,044 inmates are housed in the Atlanta jail every day, two-thirds of them federal or Fulton County inmates, the audit found. “We need a holding cell, not a full-blown jail,” Councilman H. Lamar Willis said.

However,

Corrections Sgt. Ellis Williams, a leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unit that represents corrections officials, criticized the audit, saying it was “willfully, deliberately and intentionally done” to encourage city leaders to close the jail.

jakking County-City Issues, Federal Payments, GA Atlanta City, ICE

After being arrested in Bucks County PA, suspects place their hands on an imaging screen that scans their fingerprints into a computer linked to a federal database.  This report from Morning Call.

Within minutes, prison officials can learn the person’s criminal record — whether he is wanted for other crimes and whether he is in the country illegally.  That’s the latest weapon the federal government uses to track people who are illegal immigrants.   The system has been in use in Bucks and Montgomery counties — the only two in Pennsylvania so far — for a couple of months. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to extend that to more than 6,000 local police booking centers and jails nationwide … in about 3 1/2 years, Thomas Decker, director of the ICE Field Office in Philadelphia, said Monday …

Criminals who are in the country illegally will be turned over to ICE for deportation proceedings only after completing their sentence in a county jail.  Bucks District Attorney Michelle Henry said people simply can’t be turned over to ICE before completing prison terms.   ”It’s important to serve whatever sentence that is,” she said …

Township police have arrested about a dozen people who, with the help of ICE, have been identified as being in the country illegally.   Bucks was able to tap into the ICE system because its computer fingerprinting system was in place and needed only upgrades — $30,000-$40,000 worth — to complete the connection, said county Corrections Director Harris Gubernick.

jakking ICE, Illegal Aliens, PA Bucks County, PA Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Criminal Alien Program has led to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being detained in jails across the country. The program identifies illegal aliens that come through jails and then detains them until their sentences are served, at which time they are deported.  Reporters were invited to Lake County IL Jail to see the work.  This report from the Waukegan News Sun:

With immigration officials flanking them, two men shuffled toward a waiting vehicle at Lake County Jail.   Once inside the low-profile Chevy Trailblazer, the two Mexican nationals were whisked away by immigration officials, possibly never to return to Lake County again.   It’s a scene that has been repeated dozens of times a month at the jail …

Since the program began in September 2007, roughly 260 inmates at the jail have had detainers placed on them. And a majority of them were eventually deported, said Gail Montenegro, a public affairs officer with ICE.  Lake County was praised Tuesday as one of the jails that works well with ICE officials. James McPeek, a field office director from ICE’s Chicago office, said the dedication shown by Sheriff Mark Curran and his staff is vital to the program’s success.

McPeek said Lake County has among the greatest number of detainees for Chicago’s collar counties. According to Curran, 152 of the jail’s 655 inmates are foreign born. And of those 152, roughly 90 percent are illegal aliens … Though all of the men interviewed Tuesday were of Mexican descent, not everyone detained is Hispanic. While the number is much lower, the jail also has illegal European immigrants, said jail chief Jennifer Witherspoon.

jakking ICE, IL Lake County, Illegal Aliens

The Northwestern Virginia Regional Jail faces cuts in next year’s budget due to less money from the state and a loss of federal inmates.  Superintendent Bruce Conover said that “This budget is austere,” according to NVReport.

The proposed $17.2 million fiscal 2010 budget assumes the jail will receive approximately $1.5 million less in revenue than it saw in the current year, including a gap of $717,000 due to a lack of inmates from outside agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Prince William County. Another $506,000 shortfall is due to a 7 percent reduction in state per diem and salary assistance, and another $270,000 is from the implementation of an aid-to-locality reduction for 2010 …

Inmate population has an impact on the jail in both its expenses and revenue. According to Conover, the jail population has stayed around 525 for months.  “We all kind of anticipated that when the economy had gone bad that we’d see an increase in the inmate population,” Conover said. “It hadn’t happened yet.”  The jail saw its average daily population rise to 598 in fiscal 2007 and 623 in 2008. The facility returned a number of inmates to Prince William County’s jail when its facility completed an expansion …

The draft budget includes an overall 9.1 percent reduction in spending and seeks to cut operating expenses by 11 percent. The assistant superintendent position remains frozen and unfilled; a nurse and two administrative positions also will not be funded through attrition. Conover said the jail anticipates a reduction of 12 positions in the next year.

jakking Economic Issues, ICE, VA Northwest Regional Jail

County commissioners on Monday unanimously voted to approve a resolution declaring an intent to finish the second floor of the Delaware County OH Jail.  The Delaware Gazette reports:

The language of the resolution referenced that money for the construction would be raised by renting out space in the jail to house federal prisoners. Delaware County Sheriff Walter L. Davis III said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was also interested in paying the county to hold illegal aliens. In addition to finishing the jail, federal dollars would also pay for an additional 12 correctional officers and three school resource officers, he said … U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency would provide $65 a day for each one of its prisoners housed at the jail, Davis said. The federal agencies would also cover medical expenses.

Davis said on Monday that the prisoners from the U.S. Marshals would “white-collar, non-violent” criminals. He also said 90 percent of the illegal aliens ICE handles are not criminal offenders beyond their illegal status in this country.   They would only be in the jail a short time while awaiting deportation.   “They’ll be in and out,” Davis said.   ICE is interested in renting 15 beds in the jail immediately, pending an inspection of the facility …

Costs of finishing the jail were not discussed at the meeting, although in November, Davis asked the commissioners at his year budget hearing for about $1,000,000 for the project.  To raise that amount without using local taxpayer money, the jail would need to house about 42 federal prisoners and/or illegal immigrants at $65 a day for one full year.

jakking Federal Payments, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Jail and Prison Construction, OH Delaware County

Federal immigration officials flagged for deportation 915 foreign-born inmates at the Gwinnett County GA jail during a 26-day surge that ended on Thursday.

Of the inmates identified as being in the country illegally, 489 had a previous criminal history, said Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway … Federal immigration officials worked in 15-person teams from 6 a.m. to midnight during[from 12 January] that time frame to interview all the inmates and determine their immigration status. The inmates were charged with a range of offenses including murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, theft, traffic violations, and probation violation, said Larry Orton, assistant field officer director for the ICE Criminal Alien Program in Atlanta … “I would like to see a program like this 24/7 at the Gwinnett County jail,” Conway said. “Gwinnett County is safer today because of this operation and the work these ICE agents did.”

There is a great deal more information on this in the article at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

jakking GA Gwinnett County, ICE, Illegal Aliens

Less than a day after the county commissioners were informed of its projected $52 million cost, a proposal to expand the York County PA Prison has stalled – unless the federal government picks up the costs.

A feasibility study for the expansion found that York County can’t afford the project unless U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fills 550 of the extra beds with immigration detainees over the next three decades.  The commissioners on Tuesday reaffirmed past statements that they won’t approve the project unless there is a guarantee from ICE, an agency that historically has shied away from giving such assurances.  If immigration officials refuse, the federal government will be asked to assume the $52 million cost.  “The ball’s in the their court,” President Commissioner Steve Chronister said. “ICE has to decide what commitment it will make. This is not going to be a speculative project.”

ICE spokesman Mark Medvesky said Tuesday that the agency is open to all ideas … An expansion would provide more space for ICE, which approached the county about using 300 to 600 more beds in the Springettsbury Township facility …

In order for the county to avoid a massive financial hit with the expansion, the federal government would have to hold about 1,250 detainees in the prison each day at the $63.35 per diem rate it pays, county engineer John Klinedinst said.  Either way, the expansion never received serious consideration from the commissioners; they believe jail diversion programs could empty enough beds to satisfy ICE.   Their plan, however, could be complicated by an agreement with Springettsbury Township. More than 150 detainees are housed in trailers on the prison campus, and the agreement requires that the trailers be removed by late 2010.

The project’s $52 million cost accounts for more than additional beds. Parts of the prison must be renovated in order for the expansion to be effective. The building’s women’s wing, admissions area and control center are sorely outdated, Klinedinst and prison Warden Mary Sabol said. Klinedinst believes an enlarged admissions area will eliminate some security issues and make more efficient use of the prison’s staff.

Read the complete article at the York Daily Record.

jakking Federal Systems, Female Inmates, ICE, PA York County

Nearly four months have passed since Rhode Island became the first state to sign up for the RapidREPAT program, which allows certain nonviolent immigrants to get out of prison early on the condition they never return to the United States.   But the state has yet to finish creating a way to find such inmates in the prison system. And prison officials say the first deportations are months away.

The program also drew criticism from civil liberties groups who feared immigrants might not understand the rights they were giving up. “We believe that steps need to be taken to ensure that this truly is a voluntary program,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.  But officials said it’s a logical cost-cutting approach to reducing the state’s illegal immigrant population. Still, fewer than 5 percent of the state’s inmate population, which is fewer than 4,000 prisoners, was expected to qualify.   “It’s someone who’s going to get deported anyway, so why don’t we deport them now rather than spending all this money on incarceration and then deporting them?” said Patricia Coyne-Fague, a lawyer for the state corrections department.

Rapid REPAT was modeled after similar programs in New York and Arizona, and federal officials said those initiatives have saved millions of dollars through early inmate release. In the past two years, about 2,600 immigrants in total were removed from both states, according to U.S. immigration officials.  Prison officials said it was not clear how many people would sign up or how much the cash-strapped state would save, since the program is voluntary.  Rhode Island’s participation in Rapid REPAT emerged from Gov. Don Carcieri’s effort to crack down on illegal immigration.  It followed an executive order in March that required state police and parole officers to identify illegal immigrants for deportation. It also mandated that the state’s government agencies and state contractors use a federal database to validate employees’ immigration status.

To participate in Rapid REPAT, an inmate must have been sentenced for certain nonviolent criminal offenses such as car theft, drunken driving, drug possession or attempted burglary. The inmates must also be eligible for parole and be facing a final order of deportation from an immigration judge.  An inmate who meets the criteria will be flagged by a new computer program. “Everything that we’re developing, we’re building from the ground up,” said corrections Director A.T. Wall. “Rhode Island doesn’t have this framework yet.”

More on this story at the AP.

jakking Federal Systems, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Rhode Island

Mahoning County OH officials are concerned about the prospect of a direct federal contract with the private prison to house revenue-generating federal inmates.

County officials fear such a contract may cause a costly reduction after Jan. 1 in the number of federal inmates in the Mahoning County jail.  “We’re not going to be able to keep that jail open at the capacity that it is right now,” without about 150 revenue-generating prisoners, either from the federal government or the city, said county Commissioner David N. Ludt.

Officials of the county commissioners’, prosecutor’s and sheriff’s offices went to Cleveland last week, where they conferred in chambers with a panel of three federal judges on this issue.  County officials sought the meeting with the judges after the Corrections Corp. of America informed them it intended to contract directly with the federal government through the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee to house federal prisoners at CCA’s Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road. The judges then ordered the county to file by Jan. 15 “a comprehensive audit” of county jail operations over the past 18 months. This audit is to include the number and sources of its prisoners, and a statement of revenue from the county sales tax and from federal and city prisoners housed there, and how that revenue has been used …

Read more…

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• Dallas County inmates get expensive flat-screen TVs
• Cornell Companies wants to expand the private prison they operate near Pittsburgh under a Federal Immigration contract from 1,500 inmates to perhaps 3,000.
• Colorado DOC doesn’t have the budget to pay for prosecutor’s fees.

jakking Colorado, Cornell, Economic Issues, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Private Prisons, TX Dallas County

Adams County PA Prison could begin accepting an additional 30 federal prisoners for an estimated potential income of about $700,000, Warden Brian Clark has told the Prison Boar.

Prison capacity, including Community Reentry inmates (formerly called Work Release) is 447. The last day of October, there were 328 inmates in the facility. The main prison has about 120 beds available, some of which could be used for the federal prisoners, Clark said.  “If we could hold 30 of their inmates for a year, that would be ($678,000),” Clark told the board. He also said daily operating costs would not change. Food costs are fixed, and there is sufficient staff already on board. One cost that may increase could be health care, but that would be the responsibility of the federal service, the warden said.

Clark said the federal agency would treat Adams County as a satellite of York County Prison, where it currently keeps the prisoners.  “The problem right now is York County is overcrowded,” he said, “and they’re (ICE) taking females … halfway across the state to board.”   Fink noted many of the prisoners would be awaiting a flight out of the country and Adams County is close to the Harrisburg airport, where most of the flights occur.

Clark said the plan “wouldn’t take place tomorrow.” The federal agency first must inspect the prison, including review of its procedures and policies, before a contract can be signed.  Adams County Prison already houses 25-30 prisoners a month from the U.S. Marshall Service. The prisoners are being held on federal charges and awaiting trial in Harrisburg federal courts.  “We have had close to 40,” Clark said, adding that “every year this time of year, it kind of slows down for awhile.”   The county receives $62 a day per diem for each non-Adams County inmate held in the facility.

More from the Gettysburg Times.

jakking Federal Systems, ICE, PA Adams County