Thread: Jail expansion to open Monday

Jail expansion to open Monday
By Hannah Winkler / Times-News
May 12, 2007 - 10:16PM
Authorities say the 287(g) program should be signed off on and in order, repairs will be done and the Alamance County jail will finally put its expansion to good use Monday.

Because of continuing problems with the new building and because the immigration program was not in full swing, only a handful of inmates have been moved into the county’s new detention space.

The 287(g) program, sponsored by the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allows deputies to check federal computers to see if people booked at the jail live in the county without proper documentation. Those illegal immigrants are then tried in immigration court, and if convicted, they are deported.

The 240-bed jail expansion was built in part to lease bed space to house convicted illegal immigrants from across the country before deportation.

Under the agreement, the government leases beds for every illegal immigrant for a little more than $60 day. ICE will provide a bus and an airplane to deport immigrants to the Mexican border and other points.

Alamance County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Randy Jones said the 287(g) program is aimed to officially begin today, although local ICE agents have been doing their duties since February. The ICE agents have done background checks on county inmates, looking particularly for illegal immigrants who will be processed and deported.

Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson said roughly 30 percent of the current Alamance County jail population is illegal criminal immigrants.

Other problems have contributed to the decision to continue postponing moving more inmates into the expansion — problems with the jail structure.

Last week, a leaking smoke-exhaust fan vent and six flooding shower floors were problems for the two dozen local inmates who were being held in the facility.

“We didn’t know it was (this) bad until water started running off the floor,â€

Jail annex hosts first illegal detainee
By Hannah Winkler / Times-News

May 14, 2007 9:49 PM
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brought its first detainee to the Alamance County jail Monday afternoon.

That person, who was not identified by authorities, has already been found guilty in immigration court and will soon be taken to his home country.

Sheriff’s department spokesman Randy Jones said Monday afternoon, 55 inmates were being held in the 240-bed jail expansion. Of those 55, only one inmate is an ICE detainee being held for deportation.

Thirty of those inmates were transferred into the expansion Monday to ease crowding in the old jail.

In January, Jones estimated that busloads of 60 or so illegal immigrants would leave the county twice a week. Jones said that the sheriff’s department has no control over when ICE detainees are brought in, or how many.

“We’re just providing the hotel, we’re not involved in the removal process,â€