JEFFERSONVILLE — The Clark County Jail has been designated as an official U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, holding facility.
Clark County Sheriff Scottie Maples said after an inspection phase, an agreement was signed with ICE in which they would now take a considerable number of their detainees in the jail. This started last Friday.
Maples said this agreement is similar to one the Clark County Sheriff’s Office had before with the U.S. Marshals Service. As of Tuesday, the jail was housing 46 ICE detainees.
Maples said these detainees appear to be from all over the country. He said after to speaking to some of the inmates, it appeared most were from Atlanta.
These inmates are awaiting a hearing from a federal judge, and then will be brought to a different location from there.
He said that since the jail is outfitted with Zoom technology, it allows ICE the ability for the detainees to hear from the judge remotely, which is one of the reasons why he feels ICE selected his jail, along with the size of it.
He said the agreement states that the jail would take up to 150 ICE detainees at the jail’s discretion, however, the level of detainees as of Tuesday is the number he’s most comfortable since this is a new endeavor.
“Everything is running smoothly,” he said.
Maples said he was told that these detainees would stay in the jail for short to mid-ranges of time, which from a week to up to 30 days possibly.
He said that they will also be compensated for each of the detainees they house, with the money going to the Clark County government general budget.
“I thought ... it was a good opportunity to maybe help the federal government out as well as bring some money into the county general fund as well,” he said.
Maples said he believes there are three to four other official ICE holding facilities in the state.
He said that all detainees in the jail, no matter who, are treated fairly, and that their medical division, Southern Health Partners, is in another jail in Kentucky that is also an ICE holding facility.
“If I didn’t agree to it, somebody else would’ve,” he said.
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