A federal court judge today stopped short of ordering Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp to release all non-violent misdemeanants housed at the county, but established population limits aimed at getting a handle on the overcrowding problem.
U.S. District Court Judge James Carr ordered that the Lucas County jail cap its population at 403 inmates by Nov. 20 -- which was the number of inmates housed in the jail this morning -- and reduce that figure to 369 by Dec. 30.
“It’s a partial, interim, short-term, temporary response to the motion,” Judge Carr told the city and county officials packed into his courtroom.
Late last month, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality filed a motion on behalf of inmates held at the lock-up asking Judge Carr to enforce an order issued by the federal court in 1984 that requires the sheriff to release offenders charged with non-violent misdemeanors when the jail’s population exceeds 90 percent of its capacity. The order next requires the release of pre-trial inmates charged with non-violent felonies.
Aneel Chablani, an ABLE attorney who filed the motion, told the court the jail’s population is “now consistently at 120 percent.”
Judge Carr encouraged the judges from Toledo Municipal Court and Lucas County Common Pleas Court to work together in earnest to address the underlying problems that lead to overcrowding, including the chronic failure to appear rate that results when the courts lock up non-violent offenders just to ensure they show up for court.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.
First Published November 5, 2014, 7:20 p.m.
