CLEVELAND — County officials have added a total of 36 corrections officers at the troubled Cuyahoga County Jail downtown.
According to County Executive Armond Budish’s office, 27 new corrections officers have been hired. An additional nine officers were transferred to the facility.
County officials said the increase in staffing will help improve the safety of staff and inmates at the jail.
“Over the last two weeks, we have brought on 27 new hires and transferred nine officers to the downtown jail, thereby increasing our total CO staffing to 626 as of today, believed to be our highest total ever,” Budish’s office stated in a news release. “While there is much more work to be done with hiring to account for retirements and resignations, this is solid progress.”
The county said it plans to increase staff from the current 626 to a total of 675 officers to "address the challenges of the jail."
Staffing shortages in the jail have been blamed for "red zoning," where inmates are locked down for hours at a time, sometimes for several days at a time. Internal documents obtained by 5 On Your Side Investigators link "red zoning" to increased tensions behind bars that at least one staffer has said bred conditions that could bring a riot.
The jail and its administrators have been under fire since last year when the U.S. Marshals called the facility "one of the worst" in the country. The jail has been plagued with accusations of improper inmate treatment and corruption.
Anyone interested in becoming a corrections officer at the jail can apply here.
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