At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10, groups — “immigrant youth, community leaders and other advocates,” according to a release from the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center — will gather outside of the Butler County Jail to show solidarity with those detained there.
Those attending the rally are required to wear masks and follow COVID protocols. It will also be livestreamed at facebook.com.
Earlier this week, two men filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against the jail and others in Butler County over abuses they suffered while in ICE detention.
In the suit, Bayong Brown Bayong and Ahmed Adem — both refugees from Africa (Cameroon and Somalia, respectively) who have lived in Ohio for years — outline incidents including physical beatings, verbal threats, racial and religious slurs and more.
Bayong was beaten so badly by corrections officers (CO) once, according to the suit, he lost a front tooth. A CO also reportedly told him “I hope you die bitch.” He was also pushed down the stairs by a CO and told, “When you get down the stairs, I am going to beat all the teeth from your mouth.” Bayong says he has been beaten at least three times.
“I feel very scared for my life in this facility every day,” Bayong says in a release from Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
Adem, who moved to the U.S. when he was young, alleges he has also been beaten multiple times, including the same time as when Bayong lost his tooth. According to the suit, during that incident he was “beaten until his face was swollen, and a correctional officer grabbed his prayer rug and almost stuffed it into a toilet before another correctional officer intervened.”
“The abuse of Mr. Bayong and Mr. Adem at the hands of the Butler County corrections officers appears to be vile and inhumane. That would be true regardless of the victims, but the fact that the abuse seems to stem from the fact that these detainees are immigrants makes it even more horrifying,” says their attorney John Camillus on Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s website. “We look forward to proceeding in a court of law where, unlike what seems to be happening at the Butler County Jail, wrongdoers are held accountable.”
Ohio Immigrant Alliance says both Bayong and Adem are from Columbus and have family in Ohio. “The lawsuit asks the court to grant damages and other remedies ‘the Court deems appropriate and just.’ The men’s lawyers also plan to seek injunctive relief to protect the men’s safety,” the alliance says.
The letter is apparently signed by 50 detainees (their names have been redacted in the post), and goes into detail about how Bayong was pushed down the stairs, falling headfirst. He had been diagnosed with COVID and apparently asked officers not to rush him because the virus had caused excessive swelling in his feet.
Another letter from detainees from Oct. 20 reads: “We the ICE detainees are afraid for our lives because it seems that the lawlessness of the Butler County Jail is the norm which includes extremely poor treatment of detainees including but not limited to physical abuse.”
Lawyers say they will be asking for Bayong’s release, pending his immigration hearing; Adem has already been moved to another facility. They are also calling for certain corrections officers to be put on administrative leave, pending a formal investigation into their illegal conduct.
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones oversees operations at the jail.
The Butler County Jail is located at 705 Hanover St., Hamilton. The solidarity rally takes place 6:30 p.m. Dec. 10 (it also happens to be Human Rights Day). For more info, visit IJPCcincinnati.org.
This article appears in The Holiday Issue.