HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – A newly struck partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will bring in additional inmates to the Christian County Jail. This change requires the Christian County Fiscal Court to make an addendum to jail’s health care agreement to accommodate for requested services for incoming inmates.

“Part of my duties is I try to make money for the county to help alleviate our budget…we have come to an agreement with them (ICE) to house up to 100 of their inmates.” said Jailer Adam Smith to the magistrates. “If we have 100 ICE inmates, we are going to gross almost $1.9 million a year on this.”

During the Sept. 23 meeting, Smith shared that he has been working with ICE for the past several months to negotiate receiving inmates. Due to this accommodation, the jail requested an addendum to the health care agreement with the county to permit additional 24/7 on-site health care model that is required, adjusting the current agreement with an increase of around $250,000.

What this means for Christian County, jail adaptations

“These inmates are going somewhere in this country, so why not bring them here,” said Smith. “Wherever you stand personally on all these things, these are not local populace…they will not be released into our community they are going out of our country, and they are going to be with us temporarily.”

In addition to bringing on new healthcare workers, the jail will also be hiring new deputies to fill duties related to transporting ICE inmates from flights and holding facilities. According to Smith, they will be classified as federal inmates, which the jail already accepts, and will be integrated into the general population of the jail.

“I do want to note, this is not a signal of something coming to Christian County,” added Smith, further clarifying that this does not mean an increased in ICE presence in the county. During the first wave on incoming inmates, about 25 will be integrated, eventually growing to the full 100 they planned for.

The magistrates unanimously voted to accept the addendum to the agreement with healthcare service for the jail. Since it is an addendum, it can be removed from the original health service agreement at any time given 60 days’ notice if changes are made on the federal level.

| DOWNLOAD THE APP: Sign up for our free Christian County Now app