CLEVELAND — Two Cuyahoga County corrections officers accused of taking part in a “fight club” with inmates last year are back on the job after serving suspensions.
The county confirmed Naina Tomlinson and Elizabeth Reaves returned to work at the end of March.
Tomlinson, a four-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, received a 30-day suspension.
Reaves, who worked at the jail for eight years, was suspended for 45 days.
The pair was disciplined for what happened on the jail’s ninth floor in February 2025.
Investigators said Reaves came to the unit Tomlinson was overseeing, looking for another officer.
While there, Tomlinson told investigators that Reaves began “talking smack” to the inmates and began “playfighting” with them.
Jailhouse surveillance video captured what appeared to be the officers and inmates trading punches.
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Tomlinson told sheriff’s investigators that she jumped in when three inmates were going after Reaves.
County records showed the entire incident came to light after an inmate complained that he didn’t feel safe in the unit due to inmates fighting the jailers.
Both Tomlinson and Reaves spent more than a year on paid administrative leave before their suspensions and return to work.
Both also signed “last chance agreements” with the county, in which both acknowledged that if they’re caught engaging in “substantially similar” conduct in the next two years, they’ll be fired.
News 5 Investigators learned the pair was back at work from an anonymous letter from someone who said he or she feared retaliation, but wrote, “We thought we would give you an update because we are not happy that they were brought back.”
We asked for but have not received a comment from the county on the decision to allow Tomlinson and Reaves to return to work.
In a statement, an attorney from the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the union representing Cuyahoga County corrections officers, wrote, “The OPBA always appreciates the county giving employees a second chance and hopes they treat other pending disciplines with this same type of consideration and deference to the corrective process.”
