Cuyahoga County jail
An inmate uses the phone at the Cuyahoga County Jail. (Sara Dorn, cleveland.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County judges, attorneys and others involved in the criminal justice system kicked off a review of the county's bail systems at a meeting Monday at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.
Officials from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, the Cleveland police department, the suburban municipal courts and others gave presentations about the roles their agencies play in the bond-setting process.
The gathering was the first formal meeting for committees that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John J. Russo organized in June to consider reforming the county's bail system.
Russo formed the committees after cleveland.com launched Justice For All, a series highlighting inequities in the bail systems used throughout Cuyahoga County and ways that might make them fairer to all defendants.
Approximately 50 people showed up Monday for the four-hour session.
Here are four takeaways from the meeting:
Computer systems hinder communication between law enforcement agencies: The outdated and inconsistent records systems used by law enforcement agencies in Cuyahoga County were an overarching theme of the presentations.
The fractured systems prevent judges from accessing all of the information about a defendant that might be available through another agency in Cuyahoga County before they decide how to set bail.
The slow pace of the data systems can also result in longer jail stays. The longer it takes law enforcement agencies to move a case through the system, the longer defendants who can't afford bail remain behind bars.
For example, once a person is formally charged with a crime, a judge is assigned to their case. The assigned judge can, and often does, lower the bail that was set at the defendant's first court appearance. But hours of police work and communication between the prosecutor's office and the police department has to happen before the charges can be filed, a process that is slowed by Cleveland police's inefficient data system.
"We know that we have made some progress, but as far as technology, we are still pushing paper," Deputy Cleveland Police Chief Ed Tomba said. In some instances, the police have to physically deliver documents.
Russo also noted there are at least four different booking systems in Cuyahoga County.
Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery, who presented on behalf of the 12 suburban municipal court judges, said some courts have "cobbled together two and three operating systems.
"So could we use a universal system? Yeah, you betcha," she said.
Limited resources prevent courts from giving defendants the attention they need: Montgomery questioned whether suburban municipal courts that are in many cases funded by cash-strapped local governments can afford to implement time-consuming procedures that would likely be necessary to reform their bail systems.
"I'm not sure, in the municipal court environment, we have truly the time and attention that every single defendant needs," Montgomery said.
Under the current system, municipal court judges are the first to set bail for defendants. They have "enormous caseloads," according to Montgomery, and admittedly limited information to make their decisions, which often result in them airing on the side of caution and setting bonds defendants can't afford.
Courts that reform their bail systems often implement more thorough methods of weighing defendants' risks of committing crimes or skipping court if they're released, a change that would require new resources for administering the assessments.
Cuyahoga County hopes to influence bail reform statewide: As Cuyahoga County officials begin looking at ways they could improve the bail system, the state of Ohio is considering changes to prevent bail from discriminating against people who can't afford it.
An committee for the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, an advisory group that makes recommendations to the Ohio Supreme Court, has been meeting this year to take a closer look at bail systems used throughout the state.
Russo said he hopes his committees can help inform the state's review.
"We may lead the state in at least researching and being a part of this third generation of bail reform," Russo said.
Media pressure is pushing courts to self-reflect: Cleveland.com's Justice For All series prompted judges to question their own practices and policies, Montgomery and Cleveland Municipal Court Administrative Judge Ronald Adrine said.
Montgomery said every municipal court judge is taking a closer look at how they monitor who is in the suburban jails and why since cleveland.com wrote about their bail-setting procedures.
Adrine agreed that judges are feeling the public pressure.
"I think the benefit of having a light shined on us is . . . they're asking a question but that question leads to others we need to be asking to make sure we are operating at optimal level," Adrine said.