VOTE

Dear sheriffs Kochert, Engel, Miller, Navarre and Ruskey:

As citizens of Defiance County and the greater NW Ohio area we feel an obligation to write to
you in defense of people being jailed without criminal charge. These are people being jailed at
CCNO on civil charges. Civil charges being violations of laws or regulations that do not
constitute a crime, typically resulting in fines or other non-punative sanctions other than
imprisonment.

We morally object to their jailing at CCNO for several reasons. The first being their confinement
due to the color of their skin. The second being evidence from October 2025 showing that 73%
of ICE detainees have never had any type of criminal charge, and lastly on the moral ground
that they are now being held in the same cells as criminals and have no privacy. People who are
not criminals are being forced to live in an atmosphere of hopelessness and fear of deportation.

We stand with northwest Ohio citizens in saying that we disagree with this arranged contract.
We also feel that staff at CCNO are not adequate to respond to both emergent and non-
emergent needs.

Heathcare is not adequate for those detained with detainees having no recourse to seek other
care. Food is reported as inadequate and commissary items are priced as to be essentially
unavailable, including basic necessities for hygiene. To charge $13 for a pencil, sheet of paper,
envelope and stamp seems morally bankrupt.

As the facility reaches its 600 individuals capacity it seems reasonable to address these wrongs.
Therefore, we are asking that the current contract with Homeland Security be re-evaluated. The
current situation neither meets the original purposes of the facility nor does it respect the
wishes of our northwest Ohio communities.

Kathy Skiver
rural Defiance