NewsPublished: Sep. 30, 2026, 5:15 a.m.By John Beauge | Special to PennLiveWILLIAMSPORT — A federal judge has ordered a bond hearing or the release of an immigration detainee, in part because he is being held in prison on a civil matter.U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann issued that order Tuesday on the petition of Musa Sheriff, a Liberian citizen who is being held in the section of the Federal Correctional Institution at Lewisburg that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses as a detention center.Sheriff was admitted to the U.S. as a refugee in 1999 but has faced deportation since being charged five years later with criminal threatening. He has been detained since ICE arrested him on March 2, 2025 when he reported for a scheduled check-in.In August, he filed a petition seeking release, claiming the prolonged detention violated his due process rights.The government claims that Sheriff is subject to mandatory detention, that the 19-month period is not unconstitutionally excessive, and that he is not entitled to a bond hearing.Sheriff does not dispute that he was convicted of an offense that qualifies for deportation, but Brann noted the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held, “when detention becomes unreasonable, the due process clause demands a hearing.”One of the factors the judge said in his decision favoring Sheriff was whether the conditions of confinement were meaningfully different from criminal punishment. That weighed in his favor, he found, because he was confined to a federal prison.The following is taken from Brann’s opinion:If an individual’s confinement looks penal, that tilts the scales toward finding the detention unreasonable.While the government states Sheriff is not confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, that assertion does not explain how such detention center conditions differ from those found in a prison setting. Despite Sheriff’s detention being labeled a civil detention, it appears identical to criminal detention.If detention has become unreasonably lengthy, an individual is entitled to a bond hearing to gauge whether he still needs to be detained to keep him from fleeing or committing more crimes, Brann wrote. The government bears the burden of proof at such a hearing to justify detention by clear and convincing evidence, he said.MORE BY JOHN BEAUGEThe judge concluded Sheriff’s detention has been excessive and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future because the appeal of his removal order is pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals , which had a backlog of 282,434 cases at the last report.Brann ordered the government by Oct. 9 to either release Sheriff on his own recognizance or provide an individualized bond hearing. It also must file with the court by Oct. 16 a status report certifying compliance with the order that includes whether and when a bond hearing occurred, whether bond was granted or denied, and, if denied, a detailed explanation of the reason for the denial.Williamsport native John Beauge obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State and a master’s from Northwestern University. He was photo editor of the Daily Collegian his senior year at Penn State....