State-Journal.com - Woman who died in jail held there too long

Why was the woman found hanging in an isolated jail cell on Aug. 21 being held in custody 11 days longer at Franklin County Regional Jail than federal regulations allowed?

That's the key question behind the suicide of Ana Romero 44, who was in the local jail awaiting deportation back to El Salvador, her home.

Franklin County Jailer Billy Roberts said Thursday he didn't know why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hadn't come to get Romero.

"I just know I couldn't and wouldn't release someone in federal custody without authority from a federal judge," Roberts said. "I'd be in trouble myself."

He said the Romero case "is a tragedy, a no-win situation. I feel we did everything we possibly could for her " and then some. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family."

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Romero was not in its custody when she died and therefore he cannot comment on the matter.

To bring attention to Romero's case, more than 100 friends and family are expected to attend a candlelight vigil from 7 to 10 p.m. today at the jail to mark the three-month anniversary of her death.

Roberts said he gave permission for the vigil "to give them time for mourning."

The state medical examiner's final autopsy report last month confirmed a preliminary finding that Romero committed suicide.

She died of asphyxiation within minutes after hanging herself by a bed sheet, the autopsy report said.

Freddy Peralta, a member of the Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, has said the Romero family is considering filing a lawsuit because she should have been released on Aug. 18.

Federal regulations as well as detainer forms from Immigration and Customs, known as ICE, say a person scheduled for deportation or being investigated for removal from the United States can be held by local jails only for 48 hours excluding weekends and holidays.

Detainers are used by ICE to hold people in jail for a few days so ICE agents can take them into custody.
When agents didn't come to get Romero, she should have been released from custody, at the latest, four days later because of a weekend, according to the regulations.

Romero was held 11 more days.

David Leopold, an immigration law expert from Cleveland, Ohio, told The State Journal Thursday that if ICE had put a detainer on Romero she should have been released within 48 hours.

Leopold, vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he "wasn't passing judgment on the local jailer" with that comment.

The question, he said, is under what authority was she being held?

When asked if it's unusual for people waiting for deportation such as Romero to be held longer than 48 hours before ICE agents come to take them into custody, Leopold said, "I am sure it happens all the time because local law enforcement doesn't necessarily understand the limits of an ICE detainer.

"However, most prisoners don't die so the issue is not raised."

Romero came to Kentucky three years ago and worked in Shelbyville cleaning houses to support her elderly mother and two sons in San Salvador.

Her mother and sons came to Kentucky several weeks ago and will stay a few more weeks, said Peralta. Peralta said he hopes Romero will be laid to rest in Kentucky soon.

Her funeral is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 3 in Shelbyville.

In October 2005, immigration officials ordered Romero to leave the country within 90 days, according to court records. But she did not leave.

She was arrested Jan. 14 by state police after giving federal immigration officials a false identification card. She was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Her brother-in-law, Mario Aguilar of Shelbyville, said officers were looking for another suspect when they knocked on Romero's door.

She was held in the Shelby County Jail for four months before being transferred to the Franklin County jail.

Federal prosecutors offered to sentence her to time already served for a guilty plea on possession of a false ID card. They also offered to drop the charge of remaining in the U.S. unlawfully in exchange for deportation.

Romero agreed.

On Aug. 7, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced. She seemed content with the decision and happy to go home and see family, her court-appointed attorney said.

While her case was still in federal court, she was held in the Franklin County jail, but she was technically in federal custody and the responsibility of the U.S. Marshals, officials said.

When she was sentenced on Aug. 7, the marshals e-mailed ICE agents notifying them it was time to pick up Romero, according to Tom Clay, the supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod has said he received this week a voluminous investigative report that Kentucky State Police compiled on Romero's death.

He is also reviewing records from the jail and Frankfort Fire and EMS, which transported Romero from the jail to Frankfort Regional Medical Center on Aug. 21.

Harrod has said he wants to look at all the reports and meet with Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Cleveland before signing the death certificate.

Cleveland said Thursday he has met with Romero's family and now has the state police investigative report. But he has been in a murder trial this week and hasn't had time to review the Romero case.

Cleveland said he would review it in the next few days to see if any crime was committed.

Romero was placed in isolation shortly before she died because jail officials said she refused to eat. She
lost about 30 pounds while incarcerated at the Franklin County Jail and suffered from high blood pressure, family members said.

Supporters of Romero's family have created a Web site and circulated a petition seeking answers to why and how she died. More than 1,600 have signed the petition, located online at www.anaromero.org.