Judges in Cuyahoga County held another meeting on Monday to talk about reforming the bail system, their first gathering since a .
Local judges and other officials , so that fewer defendants await trial from inside a jail cell.
Judge John Russo, the administrative and presiding judge of the common pleas court, said the courts have hired a jail liaison to keep tabs on defendants who are locked up. The liaison will manage the court鈥檚 lists of defendants, making sure people aren鈥檛 lost in the system.
鈥淪ometimes there鈥檚 something, this magic language, when I send someone to prison, 鈥楽herriff ordered to transport.鈥欌�� Russo said. 鈥淎nd sometimes the sheriff doesn鈥檛 get that language, and the person sits five or six more days.鈥�
Russo said the courts are also trying out setting personal bonds, which don鈥檛 require defendants to pay any money, for people charged with the lowest-level felonies. Judges can still set higher cash bonds if they think they鈥檙e needed.
Cleveland Municipal Court is three months into a new pretrial services program, which is aimed at making sure defendants return for court. Defendants in the program await trial outside of jail, wearing GPS monitors or checking in periodically with staff at the nonprofit Oriana House, Administrative and Presiding Judge Michelle Earley said.
After six months, Earley said, the court will release statistics on how defendants fared in the program.
Judge Michelle Earley, the administrative and presiding judge of Cleveland Municipal Court, speaks at January's justice reform meeting. [Nick Castele / ideastream]
Judge K.J. Montgomery of Shaker Heights Municipal Court said the group should talk about how to make sure defendants make court dates and don鈥檛 reoffend while out on bond.
鈥淎s we focus on, 鈥楲et鈥檚 get folks out of the jail,鈥欌�� Montgomery said, 鈥渨e have to focus on public safety and what mechanisms those folks need to be reminded to come back to court, to feel the responsibility to come back to court and to ultimately change their criminal behavior.鈥�
Judges, attorneys and other court workers will take part in a training in February with the Pretrial Justice Institute, Russo said. The institute advocates for changes in the way courts handle defendants before trial, including by setting bail.
Russo said he has been talking with PJI and the ACLU about a possible centralized system for evaluating defendants before trial.
Although the agenda included time for public comment, no one from the general public attended. Rebecca Maurer, an attorney who has appeared on , arrived afterward to say the courts did not provide adequate notice about the meeting.
3/ it undermines the already deteriorated trust in public officials that there was no announcement about a meeting that covered jail conditions, bail, and had a public comment period. As far as I know, I was the only non-court-staff, non-media person who made it in the door 鈥� Rebecca Maurer (@maurerlawllc)
鈥淭he public would absolutely have shown up to this meeting if they had been given notice about it,鈥� . 鈥淚t undermines the already deteriorated trust in public officials.鈥�
The next justice council meeting is scheduled for April 1.
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