HAMILTON, Ohio — The coronavirus pandemic has prompted state corrections officials across the country to expedite the release of low-level offenders or those who have completed or are near the end of their sentences in order to prevent further spread of the disease that is already ravaging prison systems.

But in Butler County, there is one group of inmates, many of whom have served their sentences but have not been released: undocumented immigrants.

"It's a scary situation," said Zachary Sanders, an attorney and director of immigration legal services for Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio. "In the midst of a pandemic where you have a really contagious virus that can be lethal, civil detention should not be something that may equal grave illness or even death."

Sanders has been following the problem since the pandemic began.

Currently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding 69 people at Butler County Jail on immigration charges, pending a judge's decision to deport them or not. Four of those inmates are mothers who arrived in the region after seeking asylum from their home countries -- still detained despite the fact that they have served their sentences.

Local ICE officials told WCPO in a statement that the agency has released more than 900 people due to the pandemic, but Sanders said they are only releasing prisoners when federal law demands it.

In its statement to WCPO, ICE did not respond to Sanders' statement.

Last week, a judge ordered the release of 15 immigrant inmates in Morrow County Correctional Facility due to close quarters, inconsistent access to soap and broken thermometers, after the American Civil Liberties Union requested 23 prisoners be released from that facility.

Sanders would like to see house arrest or ankle monitors as an alternative for the four mothers still behind bars.

"They had no sense of when, if ever, they may get released, and you have this deadly virus traveling through," Sanders said. "So they just felt abandoned, and you can imagine the anguish and fear both for the people there and their families."

HAMILTON, Ohio — For the first time in about 17 years, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office will no longer work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones terminated the contract with the Department of Homeland Security this week.

Over the next 60 days, attorneys said immigrants will be released, moved to another jail or deported.

“I think the chances of release for a lot of folks is good if they have representation, and, right now, we don't have access to good data on how many people are there and how many have lawyers,” said Brian Hoffman, an attorney for Ohio Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach.

The sheriff's office said it started working with ICE in 2003. The deal was to hold immigrants while federal judges decided to grant them asylum or deport them.

These are civil cases in which the immigrant is either criminally innocent or served their sentence for a crime.

WCPO first told you about Sara Mendez Morales in April 2021.

"This is somebody who was victimized her entire life,” said her attorney, Kim Alabasi. "I mean, it's a very long, horrific story."

Morales, who has survived cancer, human trafficking and domestic violence, reported abuse in 2019. Prosecutors accused her of child endangerment, and she served her sentence, at which point, a judge agreed to grant her asylum. However, ICE will not release her, citing the seriousness of the crime.

Dema Diawara is a former detainee. He’s deported now.

“No hot water. No clothes. We are treated like animals at Butler County jail,” said Diawara. “They are just making money on people. That’s it,” said Diawara.

In 2017, WCPO’s investigative team told you the federal government used taxpayer dollars to pay the jai about $8.2 million dollars over five years to house ICE detainees.

How much federal funding the jail has received since beginning to hold ICE detainees was not immediately available.

“I think immigrants sounding alarm about the Butler County Jail set off a chain reaction,” said Anna Nathanson, who is part of the team that filed a civil rights lawsuit after dozens reported medical neglect of cancer patients, severe assault, no hot water and uncooked food.

“After all that happened, the Biden Administration and ICE started asking difficult questions to Butler County Sheriff and contract was cut,” she said.

Sheriff Jones released a statement this week saying:

“We operate an efficient correctional facility and federal officials continue to add unreasonable and cost prohibitive mandates to hold these illegal immigrants. With the crisis at the border getting worse, it concerns me that the feds will ship detainees to my facility, then release them to the streets of my community under some technicality. It’s better to just end this arrangement now, than to let that happen. Unlike this current administration, I’m still a firm believer that our government should strictly enforce the immigration laws and I will continue to promote that stance at every opportunity.”

“What Sheriff Jones is really saying is if the feds, if the Biden Administration is going to require him to treat immigrants like people, he doesn't want them in his jail anymore,” said Hoffman.

WCPO was still waiting for ICE to comment as of Friday evening.