CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — Some improvements are heading to a northeast Ohio jail as part of a settlement agreement in a civil rights lawsuit.

What You Need To Know

  • Cuyahoga County Council agreed to a legal settlement Monday to improve county jail conditions

  • The lawsuit was filed in 2018 following a U.S. Marshals Service report on jail conditions and involved 19 plaintiffs 

  • The complete settlement terms are expected this week

At its Monday meeting, the Cuyahoga County Council agreed to make several updates to the facility, bringing an end to nearly five years of negotiations.

Tonya Clay, the lead plaintiff challenging conditions at Cuyahoga County Jail, said the settlement is a step in the right direction, but much more could be done to improve the facility. She is one of 19 plaintiffs involved in the case, which was first filed in 2018, after a U.S. Marshals Service report shed a light on conditions at the corrections center the lawsuit described as inhumane.

Clay said she spent approximately five months detained at the jail and said during her time there she was served green hot dogs and food with bugs in it. She said she was also denied proper medical treatment among other complaints.

The law firm representing Clay said her experience is part of an ongoing pattern of constitutional violations of inmates, that included reports of excessive force and other cruel and unreasonable conditions.

Cuyahoga County is among the defendants in the lawsuit, and Cuyahoga County Councilman Martin Sweeney said calling conditions at the jail miserable is an understatement.

“The good Lord made us all in his image, right?” Sweeney said. “And they make mistakes and they are going through the legal process. There’s no way in heck any individual should be subject to the conditions that are in there. Including the food, the living conditions.”

Sweeney credited the county’s new sheriff, Harold Pretel, for helping move the nearly five-year negotiations, and the process of getting the facility into compliance, forward. He said the lawsuit underlines the need for a new county jail, a continued work in progress.

Along with the settlement announcement, the parties involved in the lawsuit also released a 2022 report on jail conditions. Several recommendations from that report are expected to be included in the final settlement, which should be released this week.