She addressed each of the deficiencies they alleged:
- On the issue of overcrowding, she noted the county has applied for and been granted a capacity variance “for a number of years” and it has consistently remained below capacity." She wrote it is in compliance with state jail standards.
- The topic of temperature control was raised, and she asked the three lawmakers to provide documented claims because there haven’t been any complaints, and “no heating deficiencies were noted” during a Dec. 22, 2025 visit.
- As far as ICE detainees being housed within the general jail population, she wrote: “It is important to prioritize inmate housing assignments based on security level, health concerns, behavioral health concerns — not by the agency that admitted them. The jail classification standards consider various factors and do not allow violent and non-violent inmates to be placed in the same cell or unsupervised areas together.”
- The “Warden Burger” or “Nutraloaf” — which is only given to inmates in discipline isolation — got a mere mention, followed by the sentence, “All three Butler County facilities meet the certification of compliance with the Standards for Jails in Ohio.”
Chambers-Smith noted the county basically self-reported a news article on Nov. 18 pertaining to Imam Ayman Soliman, a jail detainee who complained about the overcrowding issue and medical treatment at the jail after he was released in September. ODRC visited the jail for another inspection based on the complaint Dec. 22. She wrote: “The Bureau of Adult Detention investigated the information contained in the news story as a critical incident and the claims were unfounded.”
Sheriff Richard Jones re-entered 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 “cancelled” it because of former President Joe Biden administration’s regulations.
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, Jan. 15, there were 950 total inmates in the three jail facilities; in addition to regular inmates there were 358 ICE detainees, 143 U.S. Marshals prisoners and two from the state prison system. The total approved capacity according to the variance 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.
He scoffed at the ODRC findings, calling 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 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 adding attorneys representing some of the detainees have reported poor conditions.
Inspections timing
The ODRC jail annual inspection policy says inspectors should notify the jail 60 days in advance so they can prepare necessary documents. It doesn’t address visits such as the one in December.
The Journal-News examined the annual jail inspections and over the past four years the county was found to be in compliance with all state regulations, except for the warden burger, which was also raised in 2024 and 2022. It appears no one was served it on the day the jail was inspected in 2023.
In 2021, the jail was dinged for the warden burgers as well as being non-compliant for documenting the times for the suicide protocol, and an issue with tuberculosis testing.
Dwyer said the warden burgers are allowed, but only if the inmate infraction involved food in some manner like tossing mashed potatoes at a guard.
Jones told the Journal-News this was obviously a political ploy.
“I said in the beginning they were not telling the truth,” he said.
“These state representatives don’t go inspect their own jails because they are Democratic sheriffs,” he said. “So they come down here because I’m a Republican. they’re Democrats, they hate Trump, which means they hate the sheriff and I’m okay with that, but you shouldn’t tell things that aren’t true.”
The lawmakers asked the ODRC director to “implement a schedule of unannounced inspections” at the jail which she said was unnecessary.
DeMora told this news outlet the issues would be evident if people could just pop in for a visit, but they can’t. He said he believes Rep. Munira Abdullahi, a fellow Democrat from Columbus, “tried to get in, was denied.”
Butler County Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said he routinely gives impromptu tours, including one for a state representative who showed up without an appointment.
The Journal-News tried to reach Abdullahi twice, and she did not respond. Cockley and Sigrist also did not respond to requests for comment on the director’s response to their complaints.
Local inspections
Dwyer also noted the facilities are routinely inspected by ICE and other federal agencies and by law the grand jury must tour the jail monthly, they choose what they want to view, “we can’t stage anything; they pick where they want to go.”
“You can’t change this jail overnight or in a week,” Dwyer said. “It is what it is, you can’t fix an entire jail with 1,000 inmates that quickly, you can’t do it.”
Commissioner T.C. Rogers was critical of the three Columbus lawmakers.
“I don’t know where they got their information or where they got the inclination to even make a claim down in our county,” he said. “They would do well to handle the operations of their own jurisdiction.”
Butler County resident Ann Jantzen, who has led the charge to get the commissioners to exit the ICE contract — she has been coming to their meetings for 25 weeks — told the Journal-News she is a little “skeptical” of the ODRC conclusions and “we need to continue to voice our concerns.”
Who retains contract authority?
It is unclear if the three commissioners have the legal authority to cancel the contract. County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser told the Journal-News “they had the power to enter into the contract, and they did and they also have the power to terminate. They have not; it is their call.”
Having the contract has been lucrative. When the sheriff first re-upped the contract, the per diem rates were the same but have increased 54% since. The daily federal rate increased from $68 — which was in effect for many years — to $105 and the transportation fee jumped from $36 to $47. Finance Director Vickie Barger said they received $10.2 million in boarding of prisoners revenue last year and $4.37 million from the ICE contract. They have received $739,583 in ICE revenue so far this year and another $1.1 million is on the way.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter keeps telling the public at the meetings they won’t step on other elected officials’ toes, particularly the sheriff, by canceling the ICE contract.
”Our role as commissioners is administrative and fiduciary, budgeting, appropriations and insuring that contracts and agreements are legally sound,“ she said recently. ”We do not tell other elected officials how to run their offices and we do not use our administrative authority to make political statements.”
Commissioner Don Dixon and Rogers are more direct. Dixon said contrary to what some believe they are not doing it for the money, “we don’t need the money” they are doing it because they believe it is right.
“The contract is up to the commissioners, we have had it for years and I have no intentions of cancelling it,” Dixon said, adding the claims about bad conditions are false. “It’s something we provide and we’ve always provided for Butler County.”
Rogers has said repeatedly there is a need to reign in the throngs of illegal aliens flooding the country and “we’re not going to cancel the contract.”
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