The lawmakers responded a week later, including four notarized handwritten inmate statements — obtained by Columbus immigration attorney Lilia Khor — complaining:
- The cells and showers are too cold
- The food is poor and the helpings meager
- An inmate hasn’t seen daylight during his incarceration
- There isn’t enough recreation time
The earlier complaint alleged overcrowding, mixing ICE detainees with the general population, cold temperatures and the now famous “warden burger.” When those were deemed non-issues based on a site visit, DeMora scoffed at the ODRC findings, calling Sheriff Richard Jones a “right-wing MAGA nutjob cult follower.”
“I don’t doubt that the department, when they went down and visited, that there were no complaints because to be honest, when you give somebody a week’s notice to clean things up, unless you’re a complete idiot you’re going to fix things up and make sure you don’t have any of the problems that you’re accused of,” he said.
The second complaint letter also mentions the prearranged inspections, “which may not reflect day-to-day conditions.”
The reply to the latest complaint penned by state jail inspector Caleb Ackley listed the alleged infractions separately and started out each bullet point with “On February 3, 2026, inspectors conducted an unannounced on-site visit to investigate the allegations” and ended with the complaint “is unfounded.”
The lawmakers also complained they have been unable to tour the facilities themselves and suggested the sheriff “should meaningfully engage with oversight and public requests, including granting tours to elected officials whose constituents are concerned rather than deflecting or ignoring such inquiries.”
Jones’ Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer told the Journal-News the jail tour allegation is baseless and one of their colleagues, Rep. Munira Abdullahi, D-Columbus stopped by unannounced a few months ago and was given a tour.
“The Sheriff’s Office routinely provides tours of our facility to a variety of groups, including, several faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, and other community individuals,” he said. “In fact, just this Tuesday, we hosted approximately 40 members of the Hamilton Leadership Class, a diverse group representing a variety of businesses in the Hamilton area and provided them with a tour of the facility.”
DeMora told the Journal-News he spoke with Chambers-Smith and she told him she visited the jail and is satisfied there are no issues that need attention.
“The director said that she went down there personally and she told me the conditions were what they should be and I take her at her word,” he said and added. “I’m glad it happened and I think representatives Cockley, Sigrist and I can take credit for bringing something to light and then they did something, I don’t know if it would have happened if we hadn’t called them out on it.”
Despite the fact the issues raised in the previous complaint were deemed unfounded, DeMora said he believes the only reason the jail was cleared was because they had advance warning of the inspection.
Dwyer said they haven’t changed anything, “that would imply that we did something in response to the letter and that is totally false.”
“I do not know what the senator was referring to, nothing was brought to light and we weren’t called out on anything,” Dwyer said. “I think all this interaction between us, them and the state would prove that.”
Cockley and Sigrist have refused to comment on this matter.
The jail has come under intense scrutiny since Jones reentered a contract to house U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in the jail in February 2025. The county had a contract with ICE from 2003 until June 2021 when the sheriff said he “canceled” it because of former President Joe Biden administration’s regulations.
Who is incarcerated in Butler County?
The sheriff houses inmates from county jurisdictions as well as those in cooperation with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons. As of Thursday, March 12, there were 931 total inmates in the three jail facilities; in addition to regular inmates there were 326 ICE detainees, 154 U.S. Marshals prisoners and two from the state prison system. The total approved capacity is 1,244.
A group of protesters have been visiting the Butler County commissioners weekly since July asking them to cancel the jail contract to house ICE detainees. DeMora told this news outlet he and his fellow lawmakers got involved because some of the detainees in the jail are their constituents.
Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News he often stops by the jail unannounced and has never seen anything amiss. He said people have to understand jails are not supposed to be pleasant but there are standards and theirs complies.
“Jails are an institution that is not supposed to be like the Hilton, you don’t have the convenience of being at home, you’re not in control of your environment,” he said. “That’s the way jails are and I don’t know that our taxpayers would like to have La-Z-Boy recliners sitting in the lounge and big screen TVs.”
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