Alabama jail approved once again to house ICE detainees

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WKRG) — The brand-new tower at the Baldwin County Jail in Bay Minette is almost ready to start accepting new inmates, and some of those inmates will once again be suspected illegal immigrants.

“Baldwin County is seeing more detainees than any other county in the state,” said Baldwin County Sheriff Anthony Lowery.

Until last month, they could not be housed in the Baldwin County Jail.

“The last week of August, we were able to take in our first group of ICE detainees,” Lowery said.

Ten pages of legislative red tape governing corrections facilities were reduced to two, according to Lowery, ending six months of federal agents taxiing detainees to Mississippi or Louisiana because the Baldwin County Jail had failed to meet federal requirements.

“A rec. yard and a lot of federal policy that we were not willing to be imposed upon us,” Lowery said. “It would have cost the taxpayers of Baldwin County a lot of money, and it was just something I was opposed to doing.”

The jail has been approved to hold up to 10 detainees for 72 hours, but that number is expected to increase. Lowery said surrounding counties may also see an increase in ICE operations now that his facility is once again able to accept the detainees.

“I think we are going to see is some of these other counties that only have to drive a couple hours and bring them here,” Lowery said. “Probably see more operations in Clarke County, Monroe County and those other counties closer to here.”

The county receives $80 a day for each detainee. Lowery said this isn’t about money but about efficiency. Now, he said, federal agents can spend more time investigating crimes instead of transporting detainees across state lines.