EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — The East Cleveland Jail — made infamous in Season 3 of the podcast “Serial” and at the center of a $30 million court judgment — quietly closed in December after two inspections found dozens of violations.
City officials discussed inspection findings and their failure to update the facility with Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction officials and agreed to temporarily close the jail, spokesperson JoEllen Smith confirmed.
City officials could not say exactly when the facility closed, but Cuyahoga County officials suggested it was around Christmas Eve, the day East Cleveland officials requested that the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department start housing its prisoners while it repaired and remodeled the jail.
“We don’t have an operable jail,” said a spokesperson for East Cleveland Police Chief Reginald Holcomb. “Our jail has been closed, and we haven’t had a jail here for a long time.”
On Dec. 13, Cuyahoga County Board of Health inspectors found missing glass panels in several cells, exposed wiring, broken lighting in more than a dozen cells, plumbing failures in cells and the shower area, malfunctioning toilets, solid waste buildup in plumbing closets and dead roaches in the holding area. One cell was missing a lock; others had peeling paint and water damage. Three beds were ripped, and inspectors observed “debris buildup throughout the facility.”
Five days later, state inspectors cited the jail for 147 violations of Ohio standards and recommended that the jail no longer house prisoners. Inspectors found all areas of the jail to be “unsafe,” “unsanitary,” and “nonoperable.”
Cells lacked seating, towels and clean bedding. Mattresses were ripped. Use-of-force reports were missing officers’ names or details of injuries. One officer told inspectors that he had never seen the jail’s medical policies. The jail failed to separate violent from nonviolent offenders. Men and women could converse between blocks due to the layout of the building. The jail had security issues, including broken cameras, unsecured perimeters and a corrections officer carrying a service weapon while inside the facility. Read the full extent of the inspection report here.
Kelly Woodard, the county’s director of communications, said they charge East Cleveland $173 per day to house people arrested there.
Mayor Lateek Shabazz, who has been in office for three weeks, said he, too, is unsure when the jail closed.
“The sheriff’s been taking them to the county jail,” he said. “That’s the information I have.”
The jail’s closure comes years after “Serial” detailed the beating and incarceration of Arnold Black, who in 2012 was held for four days in a storage room in the jail that didn’t have a bed, toilet, window or running water. In July 2024, the Supreme Court of Ohio ordered the city to pay Black more than $30 million after city officials failed to pay a $20 million verdict awarded in 2019.
News 5 Investigator Scott Noll spoke to Black last year about his case. Watch:
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