City of Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin called the county’s policy change a breach of contract and a risk to public safety.
Notifying the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County has informed that the Cuyahoga County Jail will no longer take in arrestees who have not yet been charged. Despite this decision, city officials are concerned about the impact on public safety.
There exists a formal agreement between Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland allowing the Cleveland Division of Police to take their arrested individuals to the county jail, with this agreement being established in 2017.
However, recent developments reveal that on February 19, Cuyahoga County Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County Council President Dale Miller, and Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney Michael O’Malley have informed the city that the jail will change its policy to only admit arrestees who have formal charges against them. They point to a clause in the agreement that permits such policy changes with a 30-day notice period.
“No person in this County, or elsewhere, ever wants to be arrested and subjected to confinement without being charged,” the notice said. “After all, probable cause to arrest ought to equate to probable cause to charge. Moreover, acceptance of uncharged persons who are ultimately never charged carries with it the potential for liability and increased costs to both the County and City.”
City of Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin called the county’s notice a breach of contract.
“The next step is we’re happy to sit down and talk with them, but what they’ve asked for is a breach of the agreement that they signed in 2017. They don’t like the deal that they cut,” Griffin said. “No one tricked them into this contract. They had lawyers, they looked at it, they reviewed it, and now suddenly they’ve decided it’s not convenient.”
He also believes the policy change is a public safety risk.
“This is a terrible policy that’s going to have real impact on public safety and as a city of Cleveland, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure the people who are arrested stay in jail to protect our public,” Griffin asserted. “We’re sad that the county has taken this position. The arrests in domestic violence cases are particularly difficult because oftentimes the victim is in the hospital, or they can’t provide us with the testimony yet to get the correct charge. So we need those 36 hours to make sure that domestic violence perpetrators are not let back out on the street in a revolving door.”
Griffin then said he believes this change is about the county wanting more money. Griffin explained that per the current agreement, the city pays the jail $99 per inmate per day.
“They’ve demanded $173 a day, which is far more than the state average of about $105 a day,” Griffin said. “It’s also far more than any other jail in the region.”
On Wednesday, 3News asked the Cuyahoga County government for reaction to the city’s disapproval. The office of Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne sent the following statement:
“The City of Cleveland has within its own power the ability to ensure dangerous criminals are arrested, detained, and charged. Cleveland is the only municipality in Cuyahoga County that routinely brings uncharged individuals to the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center for booking and housing. No other municipal department, including the Sheriff’s Department, maintains a policy and regular practice of uncharged arrests to our knowledge. In 2023, Corrections Center data reveals Cleveland Division of Police brought 3,430 uncharged individuals to the jail. Of that number, 1,118 of those individuals were later released with no formal charges.
The County has long ago proposed a reasonable solution to this problem: Central Booking, whereby Cleveland arrestees are charged before they are brought to the Corrections Center. For years, the County has attempted to work with the City of Cleveland to implement Central Booking and the City has, thus far, refused to adopt this simple option. Cuyahoga County will continue to work with the City of Cleveland to encourage it to streamline the booking and processing of inmates through a countywide centralized booking protocol for the betterment of the entire community.”
Griffin cast doubt about the county’s proposed central booking solution, saying the city has “tried to work with Cuyahoga County] on central booking, but we haven’t found a system that works.”
“If we could find something that works for the city and the county, we’re happy to do that,” Griffin said. “It means that every entity in the county would come and have the booking at the same place. We tried to work with them on central booking in the Justice Center. In fact, we had prosecutors down there, but it didn’t work at that time, but you know, we’re happy to continue to work through it.”
Cuyahoga County Council President Dale Miller told 3News in a statement that because Cleveland is the only municipality in the county that brings uncharged arrestees to the county jail, “it has become clear that this practice has created logistical and legal challenges for the county jail operations.”
“The County Executive, County Prosecutor and I sent this letter after multiple unsuccessful attempts to engage the City in the County’s Central Booking process, which would allow for Cleveland arrestees to be charged before being brought into the Corrections Center.,” Miller said. “Rather than engage in finger-pointing, I hope the County and City can come to the table so that these practices can be revised appropriately to ensure arrestees are afforded due process without compromising public safety.”
When asked about what’s next, Griffin said city officials want to sit down with the county to talk it out. He explained that there’s a mandatory dispute resolution clause as well that they have to go through, but if that doesn’t work, they are willing to take the issue to court.
