The Problem 

There were 3000 arrest warrants issued in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court during the first ten months of 2023. These bench warrants were issued because people did not comply with court orders such as appearing in court and meeting other court-ordered provisions.

As national research has shown us, the more days the person is held in jail pretrial, the worse the outcome for the individual and our community. The person is at significant risk of losing their job, housing, car, and their children. The recidivism rate is higher the longer a person is held in jail pretrial and the impact on the families weakens the fabric of our neighborhoods. 

The costs for these bench warrants include not only the multiple costs to the individual, but also increased costs to our County:

• Cost per rescheduled Court Hearing 
• Cost per Arrest and Booking to book an inmate into jail
• Increased Jail population with increased Jail housing costs   

Our Solution

We have a practical approach to support compliance with court orders. Each client will have a one-to-one Navigator who will phone them (research shows that phone calls are more effective than texts) with court dates and other court-required reminders. Each Navigator will assist a specific client, primarily by phone, serving as community Navigator and cheerleader who is able to help the client access tangible resources from our project (e.g., transportation, groceries, clothing, temporary housing) as well as services in the community. Our Navigators may attend court with the client to provide moral support in what can often be an intimidating, alienating process. 

Our Project Manager and volunteer Navigators from our congregation and community will provide services. We have received support from:

• A grant from the Sue McKimm Fund for Advancement of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland to underwrite our two-year project
• A Technical Assistance Grant from the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP) https://cepp.com and Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) https://advancingpretrial.org

Our project will mean that our clients are more likely to achieve success with meeting all court-ordered requirements and more likely to achieve stability during their pretrial process, helping to demonstrate that the vast majority of people can successfully complete their cases with adequate community support. We will be collecting performance data to demonstrate the impact of our project.

Many jurisdictions have already established pretrial support services. They have been successful with:

• More people appearing for their court-mandated hearings and successfully completing their provisions of release
• Reduction in bench warrants with accompanying cost savings
• Significant reductions in jail bed days
• Safer communities

Steering Committee: Pat Dillard, Susan Harlow, Nancy Middaugh, and Louise Mosher

[email protected]    440-318-4365