CLEVELAND — A state inspection report for the troubled Cuyahoga County jail shows that despite improvements, the facility is still non-compliant in more than three dozen state standards.
The report states that the jail is currently in compliance with 94 standards and out of compliance with 41.
That is an improvement from earlier reports.
Latest state jail inspection report shows Cuyahoga County is now compliant with 94 state standards, but still out of compliance with 41. In annual inspection released in February, jail was only compliant with 51 standards. @WEWS #WEWS pic.twitter.com/Szhj2xuYMX
— Scott Noll (@ScottNoll_News) November 19, 2019
In February, inspectors determined that the jail was only in compliance with 51 standards and was out of compliance with 84.
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The inspection was conducted on Oct. 3.
At that time the jail housed around 1879 inmates at the main jail, 15 at the Euclid jail annex and 59 at the Bedford Heights Jail annex. That number is substantially smaller than a report in 2018 that had the total number of inmates at more than 2200.
Additionally, the county has increased the number of guards which have resulted in reduced "red zoning," a security protocol that keeps inmates locked in their cells for hours at a time due to insufficient jail staffing.
The inspection report states that red zoning does still occasionally occur and most often happens on weekends when there are a higher number of employee call-offs. The county is "actively engaging with staff members who are abusing periods of leave."
The report states that the jail has made some improvements in the following areas such as:
- Reading materials placed in the units for the inmates use
- New medical treatment areas created in hopes of better delivery of services
- Exercise mats and other materials have been ordered for the living units
- Access to recreation being provided
- Weekly jail temperatures being tracked
- Hygiene kits implemented
The report states that security issues still pose a problem for the jail, and some of the issues identified in a previous inspection still have not been rectified. The issues deal primarily with policy and procedures involving jail staff.
You can read the full report, here.
RELATED: State inspection finds jail violated nearly two-thirds of standards evaluated
