FEDS Will No Longer Place Detainees at Baldwin County Corrections Center
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala.
By Dale Hines
February 19, 2025
For many years, the county jail in Bay Minette has held federal prisoners, for the Marshal Service and other federal law enforcement agencies including those who had an ICE detainer.
But that has now stopped. Not something that Sheriff Lowery asked for nor wanted, but it’s a federal decision.
“For the past 13 years we’ve held detainees for Immigration Customs Enforcement,” says Baldwin County Sheriff Anthony Lowery, “and we’ve been doing that without issue knowing that we’re a facility that would only house ice inmates up to 72 hours, which was a non-issue.”
Lowery says they were being transported to either Mississippi or Louisiana for a hearing within that 72-hour window of time.
Lowery said that for years the jail in Bay Minette has had a contract with the US Marshal’s Service to hold up to 100 felons a month in the facility.
Up to 10 of those beds can be dedicated to ICE detainees.
A change in procedure and housing requirements for correctional facilities now prevents the Baldwin County facility from being a qualifying detention center.
Mobile County metro jail has seen no changes in the federal operations. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said they his agency continues to assist their federal law enforcement partners and will continue doing so.
Lowery says he’s being told the reason for the halt on housing ICE detainees is because their facility doesn’t have the federal requirements for holding such prisoners for a longer time, like access to an outdoor exercise yard which has never been an issue before.
Lowery said it’s all been a shock to him.
Nationally, many local and county jails do not have outside recreational areas, though the larger regional detention centers often do.
Because of this, Lowery believes that this will create more challenges for federal law enforcers.
Logistically, it doesn’t make sense because instead of taking the detainees apprehended in Baldwin County to the Bay Minette corrections facility, now they’ll have to drive them to Mississippi or to Louisiana.
Lowery believes that this change will be rectified shortly and his jail will once again hold federal prisoners.
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