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The decades-long headache that is the Downtown jail apparently has become a migraine for one of its newest tenants — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The feds say they are pulling the plug on their affiliation with the jail, now known as the Regional Correctional Center, and in the next few days will have relocated more than 600 inmates from the lockup at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest.

The move comes after Bernalillo County in June yanked all its inmates from the jail — leaving just one other contractor, the U.S. Marshals Service, with inmates there.

At times in recent months, the jail held as many as 900 prisoners.

The immigration agency said it is reviewing conditions at the lockup, now operated by Cornell Companies Inc.

ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said officials in the last review rated the facility as acceptable but deficient in two standards. She didn't know which standards the jail failed to meet or how many standards there are.

"ICE is conducting a full review, and until RCC meets those standards, at that point we would determine whether to house any inmates there," she said.

The agency reviews its facilities on a yearly basis, she said. She didn't know when the most recent review took place.

On July 27, The immigration agency transferred about 350 people to other detention facilities in New Mexico and Texas. The inmates being moved in the next few days will go to the same jails.

Cornell consultant Charles Seigel said the company has a good working relationship with the immigration agency and wants to work things out.

"We understand if there is stuff they want to talk about. We are happy to take that into account and deal with them," he said.

U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez visited the jail last month, as she's done for years since a lawsuit about crowding was filed in 1995.

She said ICE hadn't contacted her about its move.

But Vazquez said conditions at the lockup need improvement.

Detainees have told her about lost property, complained about medical care that included women without enough feminine hygiene products, and said at least one inmate was deported without shoes. Others asked for cleaning products for the showers and said the food wasn't cooked.

She also said the jail was "unbearably hot" inside.

"On my visits to the facility, it was actually very difficult to stay in there," she said.

The judge said the building is overtaxed.

"There isn't enough washing machines to handle everyone's clothes. They were stuffing it, and the clothes were not getting clean," she said.

But she said, high-level Cornell officials seemed willing to work on the problems.

Vazquez is the judge in the crowding lawsuit and is expected to decide in the next two weeks whether inmate attorneys should be given greater access to the jail.

ICE's move comes as federal authorities look into the death of a Korean woman who died at an Albuquerque hospital while in the jail's custody last year. The woman's repeated requests for medical attention were ignored, according to lawyers familiar with the case.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say they've received recent complaints from inmates that the jail's health care is inadequate and that the facility is dirty and, in winter, too cold.

Additionally, attorneys in the crowding lawsuit are seeking access to the Downtown jail to monitor conditions.

Deputy Chief U.S. Marshal Carl Caulk said he couldn't comment on whether his agency is satisfied with living conditions for RCC inmates. He did say the agency has ongoing inspections, as it does at all of its facilities.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss our inspection process and whether it (the RCC) meets standards," he said.

Caulk said the agency doesn't have any immediate, large-scale plans to move people in or out of the jail.

The Downtown jail, built in the 1970s, has a checkered history, one that has given more than its share of consternation to the people who operated it.

Until three years ago, it was run by the county. Chronic crowding problems — and the lawsuit over conditions — prompted the county to build the Metropolitan Detention Center on the city's West Side.

The county, which still owns the Downtown jail and leases it to Cornell, doesn't plan to move people back to the lockup from the Metro Detention Center because it believes it can manage the population at the newer quarters, said John Dantis, the county's public safety director.

However, the MDC continues to struggle with population problems. It reported 2,713 inmates on Aug. 1, while its rated capacity is 2,236.