NCJ Number
88920
Date Published
1982
Length
131 pages
Annotation
This study identified the factors contributing to overcrowding in the Cuyahoga County Jail (Ohio) and proposed some immediate steps that can be taken to reduce overcrowding while long-range correctional planning is undertaken for more basic solutions.
Abstract
Study findings were based on official data and interviews with various criminal justice professionals. The largest segment of the jail population was found to be pretrial detainees. The size of the pretrial detainee population could be significantly reduced by cutting the time it takes to bring a case from arrest to arraignment. Attention should be devoted to the streamlined delivery of municipal court papers to the county clerk and other criminal justice agencies. This should include increasing the speed with which paper passes among county agencies; enhancing the scheduling capabilities of the court; fine-tuning relationships among the court, clerk, sheriff, and prosecutor; developing standards and policies for the timing of court processes; and developing and redeploying resources to achieve time savings. Attention should also be given to the possibility of increasing the number of pretrial releasees, but with due consideration to ensuring trial appearances and public protection. The jail is also used as a sentencing facility by the court of common pleas and municipal courts as well as for the housing of State and Federal prisoners. Procedures should be developed to minimize the time State and Federal prisoners are detained in the jail, and the county should develop contingency plans to cope with a backlog of prisoners if the State, because of its own overcrowding, closes intake. The increase of sentencing options should also be explored. The appendixes provide a discussion of the problem of new jail construction and a listing of resource material in the project's library. Also included are flow charts that show (1) the flow of persons and paper through the criminal justice system, (2) the operation of the county corrections system, and (3) a depiction of what happens when the criminal justice system encounters problems.