The Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) has 23,519 inmates in custody, according to a 2017 Inmate Profile report.
Inmates with an ICE detainer are primarily undocumented and whose status often piques ICE’s interest.
Around 46 percent of inmates who had detainers placed on them are registered sex offenders and convicted of serious sex crimes, Media Milwaukee found.
In a list obtained through an open records request to the DOC, there have been 275 of those inmates whom ICE has placed a detainer on since February 2014.
Most are compliant and currently incarcerated; however, a small majority are non-compliant and on active community supervision.
One 42-year-old man is one of those inmates currently serving his time after being convicted of a sex crime. Originally from India, he was convicted of first-degree sexual assault, and several counts of possession of child pornography, in 2014.
He is serving a 15-year sentence after admitting to traveling from San Diego, Calif. to Wausau, Wis. to meet up with a 12-year-old girl.
He had an ICE detainer placed on him in January 2016.
In addition to sex crimes, common felonies among inmates with ICE detainers include OWI’s and drug related charges.
Of the 275 names that Media Milwaukee received, approximately 101 of them used interpreters during court proceedings.
The majority of inmates with ICE detainers over the last four years at the DOC were in their thirties and forties.
Forty one percent of these DOC inmates have only one felony conviction on their record. In one instance, however, an inmate had 14 felony convictions.
Many inmates are not only guilty of violent and serious crimes, but they are also repeat offenders, who are just now having ICE detainers placed on them.
Most of these inmates will complete their sentences before going into ICE custody, but the frequency with which some of these inmates offend raises questions about ICE’s priorities.
The large majority of inmates on the DOC’s ICE detainer list were male, there were females included as well.
One woman, 36, was found guilty in 2010 of first-degree reckless homicide and child abuse-intentionally causing harm.
According to an Associated Press article, she was responsible for causing the death of her 8-year-old son.
The AP story says the woman “disciplined [her son] by hitting him across his back with an extension cord.” She then made him run around their Kenosha apartment before instructing him to take a cold shower.
When the boy arrived at the hospital, his body temperature was at 80 degrees, according to the article.
She had an ICE detainer placed on her in June 2016.