Fresh Details in Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Butler County Jail
Commissioner Dixon said he wants “the facts.” Here they are.
Interfaith Prayer Vigil Outside the Jail on May 30, 3pm
HAMILTON - On May 19, civil rights lawyers briefed the media about the latest lawsuit against the Butler County Jail, following an assault by a corrections officer against Mr. Luis Tenelanda, a father detained there on civil charges for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At the same time, Butler County residents lined the Commission Chambers during the Commissioners’ weekly meeting, once again expressing their opposition to the jail’s ICE contract.
The case, Tenelanda v. Butler County et al (1:26-cv-00490), has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Jeffery P. Hopkins, who is also presiding over other civil rights lawsuits against this jail, including Bayong v. County of Butler et al (Case No. 1:20-cv-00989) and Benty v. Butler County, OH et al (Case No. 1:21-cv-00364).
Writes the Journal-News: “A group of mainly senior citizens have been visiting the county commissioner meetings weekly since July, begging them to end the ICE contract. This week they referenced the latest lawsuit. Commissioner Don Dixon asked the crowd to give the deputies the benefit of the doubt.” The article includes a couple of minutes of video of their interaction.
On Saturday, May 30 at 3pm, Butler County Immigrant Justice, the Task Force on United Methodist Immigration Ministries of Ohio and many other partners will host a peaceful interfaith prayer vigil outside the jail, as part of a statewide week of action. We expect that the jail will NOT be put on lockdown. Read more here.
At the meeting last week, Commissioner Dixon said: “There’s a fine line here between knowing exactly what’s going on and what isn’t, yeah we got sued, we get sued all the time, the recorders office, the probate office, everybody. There’s more lawyers out there and for $49 you can sue anybody. That doesn’t mean it’s right, that doesn’t mean their allegations are true. I think we owe our [jail] employees that have protected us for many, many years, that live in our neighborhoods, that go to our churches, at least the benefit of letting the facts come out.”
Well, here are the facts.
On June 8, 2025, staff and leadership of the Butler County Jail were angry about a peaceful demonstration happening outside the jail, in support of Emerson Colindres and other Ohioans incarcerated for ICE. That evening, Sgt. Corneal Rowe assaulted Mr. Luis Tenelanda, who was also detained for ICE. Sgt. Rowe first used ethnic slurs and, as Mr. Tenelanda backed toward his bed, Sgt. Rowe punched him in the stomach. Mr. Tenelanda briefly passed out.
The entire jail was put on lockdown and incarcerated people were not allowed out of their cells — after spending the entire day inside. Mr. Tenelanda received delayed and inadequate medical treatment at the jail. He vomited blood. When he returned to his cell after being taken to the medical area he found his roommate, who had witnessed the assault, replaced by someone else.
On June 10, 2025, an officer finally took Mr. Tenelanda to the Bethesda Butler Hospital in Hamilton. There, he received x-rays of his left arm and shoulder, and a CT scan of his stomach and pelvis. Contrary to claims that he was “fine,” Mr. Tenelanda was diagnosed by the hospital doctor with “contusion of abdominal wall” and “arm injury, left.” It should be noted that x-rays are used to view hard structures like bone, not soft tissues, such as muscles, ligaments, cartilage, and tendons.
The hospital doctor told Mr. Tenelanda to report to his primary care physician within two to three days. The officer who took Mr. Tenelanda back to the jail confiscated his medical records. The jail did not take him to a doctor two or three days later, as the hospital recommended, and never gave him his hospital records. Mr. Tenelanda had to obtain the records through counsel after his deportation to Ecuador.
An unnamed employee of the jail filed an internal affairs complaint against Sgt. Rowe about the incident and, on June 11, 2025, Sgt. Rowe received papers stating he was being investigated for potential violation of “Policy and Procedures section, 5.01 Response to Resistance, De-escalation.” It is not common for law enforcement colleagues to accuse other law enforcement colleagues of use of force violations. Sgt. Rowe was served Internal Affairs paperwork in the presence of union representative Officer Blanton, who is a defendant in another civil rights lawsuit involving the illegal use of force against people detained for ICE, Bayong v. County of Butler et al (Case No. 1:20-cv-00989).
According to the Internal Affairs investigation paperwork, Sgt. Rowe could be subjected to “an interview, polygraph examination and/or further investigation” as part of the process. However, there is no evidence that a polygraph was administered. On July 7, 2025, Sgt. Rowe was issued an oral reprimand “for violation of policy section 2.20 Attention to Duty #20 Completing Official Reports.”
Said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, “I don’t think Commissioner Dixon understands how these cases work. Civil rights lawyers only get paid if they win their cases, so they only take cases that have merit. Mr. Tenelanda hasn’t paid his lawyers a dime. And even if he had to, he can’t. Because he cannot work, thanks to Sgt. Rowe’s unprovoked, racist violence. Norris Law Group took this case because they know something is rotten at this jail, rotten at the core, and they want it to stop because people keep getting hurt.”
She continued, “Sheriff Jones thinks ‘anything goes’ at his jail, and the Commissioners are well aware of the problem. That includes Commissioner Dixon, who wants to pretend it’s not happening. When are the Butler County Commissioners going to stop defending him, and start defending people? It’s ridiculous that so-called county ‘leaders’ can’t stand up to a bully sheriff who thinks the law doesn’t apply to him. Sheriff Jones is costing the taxpayers money to defend these lawsuits in court. And he’s gleefully created a torture chamber that gives Butler County a bad name. There has to be one adult in county leadership, somewhere, who can do the job they were elected to do and put an end to this.”
For additional information about what happened at the Butler County Jail on June 8, 2025, see the full complaint; a summary; and a brief timeline, as well as a statement from Mr. Tenelanda in English and Spanish.
Find details about the May 23-30 week of action outside of all six Ohio immigration jails here. Get data about the first 15 months of ICE detention in Ohio during the second Trump administration, including Butler-specific data, here. Learn how immigrants, lawyers, and allies ended the first contract at the Butler County Jail in 2021, and what they are doing to repeat that victory, in this Ohio Immigrant Alliance report.
