Detainee Program Strains Va. Jail

Meletis said he had not calculated what that extra cost would be. "I'm sure there are people in that category, but I don't know how many," he said.

Capacity at the facility -- due to expand by 200 beds in November-- was a problem before the ICE partnership started. The two main jail facilities are rated by the state's Board of Corrections as having space for 402 inmates, but in February, the buildings held an average of 664 inmates a day. An additional 275 inmates were sent to facilities elsewhere in Virginia at a daily cost of $38 to $50 per inmate.

The crowding has resulted in a pricey process in which inmates are juggled between facilities according to bed space, court obligations and other factors. Lawyers and inmates' families said the partnership is also allowing illegal immigrant suspects to stay in Prince William while legal residents are shipped elsewhere.

Manassas resident Angie Walls said her 23-year-old son was abruptly transferred to a facility in Staunton soon after he began serving a three-month sentence for a home burglary Feb. 28 -- and not long after she had deposited money into his commissary account at the Prince William jail. She set up an account for him in Staunton, but he was transferred back to Prince William before the money arrived. She's now trying to figure out if he'll be moved again.

"Nobody can give me an answer," she said, requesting that her son's name be withheld lest he face retaliation. "I can't wait until this is over."

In his letters to Myers of ICE, Hurd, the jail board chairman, said the agency's failure to promptly remove inmates was "unacceptable" and could no longer continue. He offered three remedies: that ICE establish a designated weekday when it will retrieve inmates, that jail workers limit residency checks to more serious criminals or that the jail disregard ICE detaining orders and release suspects after 48 hours if they have no outstanding local charges.

Meletis said that his employees have been checking everyone whom they suspect is an illegal immigrant and that they would have to get permission from the jail board to scale back that approach. But they prefer that ICE meet the terms of its agreement with the jail.

"I think they want to fix the problem," Meletis said. "They've told me they lack bed space to put people in."