the terrible issues in this one county jail

Three recently released videos highlight abuses inside Ohio's Cuyahoga County Jail, where nine inmates have died since the beginning of 2018.

WARNING: The videos are hard to watch. pic.twitter.com/2sVu3hiln6

— Alexis Wainwright (@AWainwrightTV) June 20, 2019

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Cuyahoga County lawmakers call for reforms in response to deaths at Cuyahoga County Jail

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/06/cuyahoga-county-lawmakers-call-for-reforms-in-response-to-deaths-at-cuyahoga-county-jail.html

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A pair of local state lawmakers are calling for legal changes in response to the ongoing issues at the troubled Cuyahoga County Jail, which has been plagued by poor health care, inmate deaths, staffing issues and lax state inspections.

Lakewood state Sen. Nickie Antonio and Parma state Rep. Jeff Crossman, both Democrats, said Tuesday they’re working on jail accountability legislation that would complement reforms imposed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

DeWine earlier this month called for changes that include hiring new jail inspectors and allowing those inspectors to visit jails unannounced.

But Antonio and Crossman said their proposed changes mostly would be designed to enforce state inspections, including giving counties and cities a set time period in which to address issues uncovered by inspectors. If the issues aren’t addressed, the plan would allow the state to sue the noncompliant jails, appoint an outside expert to overhaul them or even shut them down temporarily or permanently if the problems aren’t fixed.

“The conditions at the jail didn’t develop overnight, and they seem to represent a failure in the system,” Crossman said.

“Ultimately, it needs to be a priority when lives are lost,” Antonio said. “And I feel like the State of Ohio is responsible ultimately. Then it’s our responsibility. It has been our responsibility. We just haven’t stepped up. I’ll join in taking responsibility for that.”

Antonio and Crossman, who were joined at a Columbus news conference by Cleveland state Rep. Terrence Upchurch, said they are hoping their proposal gets bipartisan support, but haven’t yet lined it up. Republican co-sponsors and support from state legislative leaders are a necessity in the GOP-controlled state government.

Antonio and Crossman haven’t yet introduced a specific bill, but said Tuesday they plan to do so in the coming months. They’re designing their legislation with the issues in Cuyahoga County in mind, but the changes if adopted would apply to all Ohio jails.

“We wanted to announce our intentions to address this swiftly and in a bipartisan manner,” Crossman said. “So anybody who wants to join in on this effort, we welcome their participation.”

The governor’s office appreciates Crossman and Antonio’s interest in working on jail reform, DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said.

“Governor DeWine has asked that DRC [the state corrections department] work with the General Assembly to develop legislation allowing for unannounced inspections at local jails, as well as to mandate that local jails report critical incidents to DRC,” Tierney said. “We will review the legislation announced today as it moves through the legislative process.”

Other elements of their plan include setting up an anonymous hotline at the state attorney general’s office for whistleblowers who want to report jail issues, and assembling a bipartisan commission to study jails across the state to come up with best practices and common problems, and ways to address them.