An Ohio congresswoman visited the Calhoun County Jail on Monday to meet with about 30 women who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a flower and garden center in Sandusky, Ohio, earlier this month.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-9th, of Toledo went to make sure the detained women, who were mostly from Mexico, though some came from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and El Savador, had been able to get proper legal representation.
She was assured they had, Kaptur said during a conference call with reporters on Monday.
"The issue at stake here is whether they had proper documents to work," she said. "Evidently, the case the department is preparing relates to the falsification of documents that has occurred in the greater Sandusky region. These women were rounded up, not because they had any specific charge against them in particular but because of this larger investigation."
She also said that Sheriff Matt Saxton had been "very accommodating."
When the Calhoun County Jail opened in 1994, it was built larger than the county needed it to be so that it could house more than just local inmates.
These days, ICE is its biggest source for inmates from outside the county.
The number of ICE detainees has risen sharply over the last two years, increasing the overall jail population and bringing the need for four additional deputies.
In 2016, the jail housed a daily average of 98 ICE detainees. This year, the average is 220. An ICE spokesman did not respond to emails seeking information on that growth.
"It's the largest entity that houses through us," Saxton said, noting that the inmate population fluctuates daily.
"We have no say even with our local system who's lodged there or not," he said. "They are there by orders of the court."
Today, the jail averages 603 inmates, between local inmates and those boarded there by other entities. It can house 664.
A part of the the jail that opened up just four years ago to house additional inmates has been open continually, Saxton said, and the county is "staffing that on overtime."
He hopes to change the way that area is staffed soon. Calhoun County Commissioners gave the sheriff the green light to hire four new correctional officers earlier this month because of the increase in inmate population.
The cost of the four new positions for the remainder of the year will be about $93,087, but Saxton says those costs will be offset by reduced overtime spending. The additional four deputies will give the jail a total of 85 deputies.
"The biggest thing for me is it spreads out the work load," Saxton said. "It’s helping the existing deputies do their job day in or day out."
The agreement the county has with ICE has been in place since 2013. The federal government pays about $72 per bed, per day for the first 75 beds.
After that, the cost goes down. The next 50 beds are $45 per day. The price goes back up to $64 after 125 beds. The agreement comes with a guarantee that 75 beds will be paid for daily.
Often times, there are inmates at the jail from 40 different countries.
The rest of the boarded inmates at the jail come from the Livonia, Dearborn and the state's department of corrections.
On average, about 306 local inmates and close to 300 boarded inmates have been housed at the jail this year, up from 308 local inmates and 272 boarded inmates last year.
Last year, the county received a Request for Information from ICE asking if there was any way to add bed space to the jail for ICE detainees.
The county's response, in October, detailed what the county could do, including new construction, but Saxton said no plans have been prepared and that he was not looking to add beds.
The jail's budget is $12 million annually. Revenue from renting beds is $6 million.
If the county stopped renting beds, the jail could close three housing pods and layoff 15 employees. After saving on medical costs and food costs for the inmates and utilities, the sheriff says the county would save about $2 million.
"Our budget would be $10 million," Saxton said. "The difference would be there's no revenue from renting."
Contact Kalea Hall at (269) 966-0697 or khall@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bykaleahall
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WZZM 13 app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.
