Kentucky jail must disclose how much it’s paid to hold ICE detainees, AG says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- AG rules Oldham County wrongly withheld ICE contracts and billing.
- Opinion says federal rule covers detainee identities, not facility records.
- Records show three counties billed more than $10.5M in 2025 at $88/day.
A Kentucky jail violated the state’s Open Records Act when it withheld billing and other information about its relationship with federal immigration organizations, the state attorney general has ruled.
In an April 3 opinion, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office ruled the Oldham County Detention Center was incorrect when it withheld U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement contracts, billing and other information from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.
The ACLU had requested information related to U.S. Marshals Services and ICE contracts, billing information, annual inspection reports, grievances and details about how ICE detainee mail is processed and handled.
The opinion held the Oldham County Detention Center improperly used a federal regulation to deny most of the ACLU’s multi-pronged request. That federal regulation says, in part: “No ... state or local government entity ... that houses, maintains, provides services to, or otherwise holds any detainee on behalf of the Service ... shall disclose or otherwise permit to be made public the name of, or other information relating to, such detainee.”
But that regulation applies only to information about individual detainees, the opinion said.
“Thus, the regulation applied only to records related to detainees of the service; it does not exempt records solely related to the administration of a facility,” Coleman’s office ruled.
The ACLU applauded the ruling. The public has a right to know how local jails are being run, and the conditions of those jails, the group said.
“We appreciate the Attorney General’s opinion on Kentucky’s Open Records Act as it pertains to county jails housing ICE detainees,” said Bethany Baxter, staff attorney for the ACLU of Kentucky. “The public has a right to know what’s happening in local jails, particularly when they are operating outside the scope of their usual procedures. Transparency within the justice system is necessary for public trust.”
The attorney general’s opinion said some documents, including daily counts of ICE detainees, could be withheld if those documents included names of detainees. Other information, including the detention center’s policy on mail for detainees, does not contain identifying information of detainees and should be released.
Oldham County Jailer Jeff Tindall said Oldham County is reviewing the opinion.
“The detention center and its counsel are evaluating the Attorney General’s response and determining next steps,” Tindall said. “This evaluation is, of course, subject to the attorney-client privilege, and so I cannot share details regarding same. Regardless, the detention center intends to comply with the applicable authorities following the attorney general’s response.”
Multiple KY jails have denied requests for ICE billing information
Oldham County Detention Center is one of several jails with contracts to house ICE detainees.
The Lexington Herald-Leader sent similar to Open Records Act requests to seven county jails asking for billing or monthly invoices for ICE detainees.
Four of those county jails — Oldham, Hopkins, Grayson and Daviess — refused to provide that information. The detention centers used the same federal regulation prohibiting the release of information related to identities of ICE detainees as justification for withholding billing information.
The newspaper had not yet filed an appeal of the denial of those open records requests.
Three Kentucky county jails — Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties — provided billing information. The three jails billed ICE more than $10.5 million in 2025, those records show. All information about detainees was redacted or excluded from those counties’ response to the newspaper’s request.
Boone, Kenton and Campbell county jails receive $88 per day for each ICE detainee, according to federal contracts provided by the Northern Kentucky counties.
That’s much more than what the state pays county jails to house state inmates. That per diem rate is $35 a day, according to state documents.
In addition, counties can also receive money for transporting ICE detainees. Those transportation contracts are lucrative — $43 per hour.
This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 12:32 PM.
