Severe and intolerable crowding in the Lucas County Jail underscores the need for a new jail. Still, the county can’t build its way out of the crowding problem, any more than the state and nation can cure the malady of mass incarceration by constructing more prisons.

Finding a long-term solution to jail crowding will take new ways of doing business, to ensure that those who don’t need to be locked up aren’t. Facing a new motion in a class-action lawsuit, and ongoing monitoring by a federal court, county commissioners and Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp must accelerate those efforts and set a reasonable and flexible cap on the jail population.

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Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc. wants U.S. District Judge James Carr to order Mr. Tharp to release from jail, as well as to refuse to admit, any defendants who are charged with nonviolent misdemeanors. The motion stems from a lawsuit ABLE filed in 1970 on behalf of inmates held in the old county lockup.

A new jail was built in the late 1970s, but severe crowding persists nearly four decades later. The poorly designed and decrepit jail is plagued with leaky pipes, a deteriorating roof, elevators that break down, cracked tiles where roaches can breed, and visiting areas that lack privacy.

With a capacity of roughly 350 beds, the downtown jail generally houses 425 to 450 prisoners, forcing dozens of inmates to sleep on cots in dayrooms. On occasion, the population exceeds 500. The cramped, outdated nine-level building precludes efficient direct supervision of inmates.

Mr. Tharp is already doing much to manage the jail population. He is releasing some people charged with nonviolent misdemeanors, or not admitting them to the jail. County law enforcement agencies are issuing summons to some who have missed court dates, instead of automatically arresting them.

The sheriff is working hard to maintain a clean and safe jail. He has expanded the jail library, created an honor dorm, provided incentives for good behavior, and kept violent inmates from the rest of the population. He is working with community agencies to treat people with mental health and substance abuse problems.

Despite those efforts, the jail remains dangerously crowded. Lucas County is probably right that its jail conditions are not unconstitutional, but that’s hardly worth bragging about.

Carol Contrada, the president of the board of county commissioners, told The Blade’s editorial page that the county opposes releasing prisoners based solely on their charges, saying that policy could jeopardize public safety. Such a system would not consider a detainee’s previous history, which could include more-dangerous offenses and make defendants a higher risk for flight or re-offense.

The county, working with Lucas County Common Pleas Court judges, is working on a better risk assessment method for evaluating releases. It should start early next year, Ms. Contrada said.

The county is correct in asserting that comprehensive risk assessment tools, similar to those used by parole boards around the country, are better predictors of a pretrial detainee’s behavior than charges alone. But commissioners must take further steps to reduce the prisoner population now, or risk having such a rigid — and risky — remedy imposed on them by the court.

Even before Lucas County starts using the new risk assessment tool for releases, it should cap the number of prisoners permitted in the county jail. Such a cap should probably not exceed 400 inmates.

Until the county starts using its risk assessment tool, it will need other ways to meet the cap. As an interim measure, the county could establish a committee, including the sheriff and a judge, to make individual decisions about releases.

To ensure public safety, the county could contract with the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio to hold excess prisoners it determined would pose a significant risk of flight or re-offense.

Other efforts that are already under way to manage the jail population must accelerate. These efforts include reducing the time newly convicted prisoners spend in jail before they are moved to a state prison, and expanding options for some defendants awaiting trial by using electronic monitoring and drug screening instead of jail space. It’s important to remember that prisoners who await trial have not been convicted and, as such, ought to be presumed innocent.

Lucas County also should continue its commendable efforts to treat prisoners with mental health and substance abuse problems, not only in the community but also in jail.

Dealing with crowding will be far tougher in the current jail. But a new jail won’t be built for two to three years or longer, depending on how long funding problems delay the project. New and more effective ways of managing jail populations must start now.

County officials understand the problem. In the past two years, Lucas County has launched many innovative initiatives to reduce the jail population safely and to run a more efficient and humane jail.

Despite these efforts, however, the county has failed to keep its jail population at a safe and humane level. Capping the population reasonably and flexibly would help ensure that it does.

First Published November 3, 2014, 5:00 a.m.