Hain brings U.S. Marshal's detainee contract back to Kane County jail

GENEVA – Five years after a federal inmate program expired – costing Kane County millions in lost revenue each year – Sheriff Ron Hain negotiated a new agreement to house federal prisoners at a cost of $95 a day.

The Kane County Executive Committee unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday which recommended authorizing a new intergovernmental agreement between the county and the U.S. Marshals for housing detainees.

“I just want to point out that this contract is very fragile,” Hain said.

“It took us a good year and a half to get into a place where we could even bring it to the County Board. And there were a lot of things in play. We had to become PRIA compliant. That’s a Prison Rape Elimination Act which the previous sheriff’s office ignored since 2015 and was not compliant. That was a massive lift,” Hain said.

“We had to get our jail population down to a manageable level to allow this opportunity to come into play. Any significant uptick – and we’re talking 15-20% uptick in jail population – could compromise this relationship,” Hain said. “So that’s why (electronic home monitoring) is so important, that’s why cooperation from our judicial managers, our State’s Attorney’s Office, is going to be so important over the next couple of years to ensure this.”

Hain said any decrease in the Marshal’s detainee population will represent a decrease in revenue.

“Of course, we have to put our Kane County detainees first in priority when it comes to our jail service,” Hain said. “I will be looking for the board in the year to come and the years ahead to support me as we closely monitor how fragile this contract is.”

The contract will go to the full County Board for final approval on Oct. 13.

But committee members congratulated Hain not only on achieving a new contract, but a higher rate. Before former sheriff Donald Kramer summarily ended the agreement in 2015, the Marshal’s Service had paid a daily rate of $65 to house federal detainees at the Kane County jail.

“This is going to bring some much-needed revenue generation to our county and I’d like to thank the sheriff personally for what he’s done here,” Board member Bill Lenert, R-Sugar Grove, said. “It’s a great move and it’s going to help the county out tremendously.”

Board Chairman Chris Lauzen echoed Lenert’s sentiment.

“Thank you very much, Sheriff Hain for the excellent work in this area,” Lauzen said.

Board member Michael Kenyon, R-South Elgin, agreed.

“That is exactly what I was going to say – thank you for your hard work,” Kenyon said. “It’s going to make a difference in our budget. Good job, Sheriff Hain.”

Board member Angela Thomas, D-Aurora, praised Hain for getting the contract back in place. But she also asked whether the county would be required to hold ICE detainees as well.

Hain said they would not.

“My staff and I are very passionate about the immigration issue and we do not coordinate with ICE at the Sheriff’s Office as far as detention goes,” Hain said. “Even though it is mentioned in one sentence of the contract – which is a national contract template for the U.S. Marshal’s (Service). We do have say-so on who and how many detainees we take every single day and we made it very clear that we will not accept immigration detainees, U.S. Marshal detainees only.”

Lauzen recalled his surprise after returning from Christmas break to learn the detainee contract U.S. Marshal’s Service was canceled.

“I was in one of those jolly moods to start the new year well and … under the previous administration – five years ago. I called the federal marshal because I didn’t know him so well. I called just to thank (him). There was like a list of people who are crucial partners because they produce such an impact on the burden that our taxpayers have,” Lauzen said.

“So I call him up. I go, ‘Mr. Marshal, thank you very much for the relationship,’” Lauzen said. “‘Chris, thanks very much for calling me today, but did you realize that the bus is over at your jail and they’re taking the final detainees out today.’”

Lauzen said neither he, nor any board member had been told that a unilateral decision had been made and the county lost at least $2.5 million in revenue that year.

“I think that it is something that is a cooperative effort among the board because it has such a big impact – that’s why it’s such a big deal for some of us who experienced the pain that that one decision – unilateral, without communicating to anybody – made,” Lauzen said.

At the time, Kramer defended his action as necessary because of inadequate staffing at the jail.

Lauzen said the $2.5 million revenue from 2015 would have contributed to the county's other needs at a rate of $1 million to $1.5 million per year, an approximate total loss of $5 million to $7.5 million.