Join us for a follow up meeting after the POWERFUL County Council Meeting Protest and Press Conference (which took place on 12/11/18), as we collectively determine next steps in the campaign to demand justice at the Cuyahoga County Jail!

Dinner provided!

A Coalition of Clevelanders Demand: Stop the Inhumanity at The Cuyahoga County Jail!

We are a coalition of deeply concerned Clevelanders and Northeast Ohio residents that held a protest outside of the Cuyahoga County Administration building on 12/11/18 in downtown Cleveland to demand an end to the abuse and neglect at the Cuyahoga County Jail.

We met before the Cuyahoga County Council meeting because the members of this Council claim to represent us and other county residents. We presented them with a set of urgent demands. “It takes time” is not good enough. The horrors inside the jail must end today.

For Cuyahoga County’s representatives in Council and County Executive, Armond Budish, and judicial officers to allow this to go on is unacceptable. Accordingly, we have come together to cry out for an end to the gross maltreatment of our fellow human beings being warehoused at the Cuyahoga County jail.

After 7 deaths and 55 suicide attempts inside the walls of the Cuyahoga County jail in the last several months alone, dangerous overcrowding (a safety concern for both inmates and correctional officers) which includes pregnant women sleeping on mattresses on the floor, vermin in the food, and host of other disturbing reports, including the most recent announcement that the US Marshals Service will no longer house their detainees there due to the severely substandard and abusive conditions, we demand action now!

To that end, the coalition stood in solidarity behind a set of demands that were delivered inside the County Council meeting on 12/11/2018 just after a press conference held outside.

Our coalition demands that the correctional facilities in Cuyahoga County recognize the full humanity and dignity of those in the Cuyahoga County Jail system. We demand swift and immediate action to address the inhumane and abusive conditions identified in the U.S. Marshal Report.

1. We demand that Cuyahoga County Council, County Executive Armond Budish, and the Sheriff’s office bring the jail into compliance. We demand a thorough update for the public at every Cuyahoga County council meeting until all of the following demands are met.

2. Swift Implementation of Bail Reform: We demand the release for all inmates held pre-trial for low level, nonviolent offenses. This use of pretrial detention should be severely limited, and if deemed necessary, a recorded justification for imposing any bail must be met and available to the public upon request.

3. Data Collection, Reporting, and Transparency: A thorough and updated collection of pretrial case information and jail conditions report made available to the public. Data collected should include 1) conditions of bail, 2) conditions of jail operations, 3) demographic information (including race, gender, and LGBTQ status), 4) length of time spent in Cuyahoga County jail prior to release, 5) current risk assessment scores and evaluation, 6) compliance with conditions of bail, and 7) eventual case outcomes.

4. Independent Oversight and Accountability for the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force: The Criminal Justice Reform Task Force failed to propose a timeline on promised reforms to the county’s bail system, nor included the communities most impacted by the criminal justice system in the decision-making process. We demand this task force propose a timeline and agree to independent oversight governed and led by a committee of affected community members.

5. Increase funding to support reentry support services: Implement policies and approaches that link those reentering society with the treatment, housing, employment, they need. End the use of criminal history in determining eligibility for housing, education, licenses, voting, loans, employment, and other services and needs.

6. End the transfer of children to adult correctional facilities: Children are physically, psychologically, and developmentally different than adults. Juvenile justice must focus on the rehabilitation and treatment of its youth. End the criminalization and dehumanization of our youth.

7. Provide full access to healthcare services: An immediate end to the deprivation of resources including food, water, and medicine/medical services.

Coalition Members:

Puncture the Silence-Stop Mass Incarceration
Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus (CCPC)
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) NEO
Refuse Fascism Ohio
Cleveland Black Lives Matter
The Carl Stokes Brigade
Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Inc.
Black on Black Crime Inc.
Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition
Cleveland Lead Safe Network
Imperial Women Coalition
Ohio Student Association
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
Tamir E. Rice Foundation

Quotes from Coalition Members
“Armond Budish is shirking responsibility and trying to deflect blame. These warning signs have been there for quite some time but he hasn’t been interested in them. There is a lack of concern for folks in jail; there is a presumption of guilt automatically once you get tangled in the system, even if you’re a victim of finances or circumstance. Once that presumption is there, there is a lack of empathy for you.” - Kareem Abdul-Nafi, Black Lives Matter Cleveland

“What’s going on in the county jail is directly related to what is going on in the juvenile justice center. There is negligence on the part of the county. There have been no real provisions made knowing that these youth are going to be there for some months. There is no bail for youth. None of them goes in there for a day, a week - they go in for a month or more, even a year before their case gets resolved. There’s no continuance for education, medical provisions, no substantive programs in place for rehabilitation or mental health. We’ve seen people die or face hospitalization, we know the horrible conditions in the county for adults - the same is true for the kids. The issue here is the prevailing culture within the system, and that’s what needs to change.” - Kareem Abdul-Nafi, Black Lives Matter Cleveland

“This is an issue that concerns all residents of Cuyahoga County. Our most vulnerable community members are being abused and neglected in our name. I know that we see ourselves as a loving and progressive community, but the atrocities happening in our county jail paint a very different picture, and the silence from community leaders allows this abuse to continue. We have a collective responsibility to demand justice for those who are currently suffering in Cuyahoga County Jail, almost all of whom are there simply because of the color of their skin and their economic inability to make bail.” - Avery Martens, Showing Up for Racial Justice Northeast Ohio

We invite all concerned citizens who care about equity, human rights, justice, and democracy to join this effort!