Committee recommends amendment to Cleveland jail contract to expand central booking, raise per diem

The Cuyahoga County Committee of the Whole on July 22 recommended to the full council a proposed first amendment to the jail agreement with the City of Cleveland that would raise the city—9s per diem for housing prisoners and expand a central booking program aimed at shortening the time uncharged arrestees spend in county custody.

The amendment would raise the per diem paid by the City of Cleveland from $99 to $143 per day and include an automatic 2.5% annual escalator, officials said. It changes how uncharged city arrestees are processed: the amendment eliminates a one-size-fits-all practice of immediately dressing many arrestees into general jail population and instead directs most uncharged arrestees to remain in a central booking area while charging decisions are made. Under the proposed terms, the contractual outer limit for time-to-charge for many arrestees would drop from 36 hours to 12 hours. The city agreed to double daily prosecutor coverage for central booking from 8 hours to 16 hours and to staff a central charging unit with detectives 24/7, the law department said.

Eric Janus, chief of staff for the county executive—9s office, told the committee the administration strongly…