This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
Proposed law would track pregnancy outcomes in Ohio jails
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation requiring all Ohio jails and prisons to report the outcomes of every pregnancy that ends behind bars.
In May, The Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 published an investigation that detailed how a Cleveland woman’s pregnancy ended after her repeated cries for help went unanswered for hours in the troubled Cuyahoga County jail in 2024.
If passed, House Bill 542 would require all county and city jails and state prisons to report the outcomes of pregnancies annually to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The measure does not track pregnancies once a woman is released from custody.
– Mark Puente
Pretel pivots, will allow outside agency to investigate Tasha Grant’s restraint death
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel is now allowing an outside agency to investigate the death of Tasha Grant, a double amputee, who died after being restrained at MetroHealth Medical Center in May.
Trumbull County sheriff’s detectives will now investigate Grant’s death and the actions of a sheriff's deputy and Metro police officers who restrained her, a Cuyahoga County spokeswoman recently confirmed.
It is unclear when or why Pretel shifted his stance after months of resistance.
The move comes just weeks after The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported that Grant’s relatives and Cleveland-area advocacy groups were demanding sheriff’s officials step aside for an independent probe.
– The Marshall Project - Cleveland staff
Mohican: New owners, same chaos at Ohio youth center
Screams and bangs echoed inside Ohio’s largest youth residential treatment center in November 2024. A melee had erupted, with fighting in the hallways and between classrooms. Some children rushed outside to grab rocks. A teacher ushered her students into the cafeteria for safety, giving a lollipop to soothe one crying 11-year-old boy.
During the mayhem, another teacher texted her mother, pleading with her to call 911: “Call them. Call mom please.”
The 110-bed facility aims to treat children with behavioral and mental health problems. It survived a state effort to shut it down several years ago due to frequent 911 calls, runaways and the use of restraints. With new owners and renewed expectations, the brawl — one of five in the past year that drew law enforcement — has fueled doubts among community members, staff and first responders about the facility’s direction.
– Brittany Hailer
‘More Than a Felon’ job fair offers folks a chance
Lakiesha “Stoney” Smith has spent more than a decade working with the justice-impacted community, drawing on her own journey of change after incarceration.
It’s part of the reason she founded More Than a Felon, a job fair designed to help formerly incarcerated people find employment.
“After doors were repeatedly slammed in my face, I decided to become the help I needed,” she said.
This year’s event will be held Saturday, Nov. 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tech Hive, 6815 Euclid Ave., in Cleveland. The third annual job fair is slated to feature more than a dozen employers, a panel discussion and several resource-oriented representatives.
“If each employer hires two or three people, it could change lives,” Smith said.
For more details, follow _morethanafelon
on Instagram.
– Louis Fields
Around the 216
- A judge has denied a defense motion to limit media coverage of the prosecution of two children accused of sexually assaulting and torturing a 5-year-old girl. Cleveland.com
- A prison warden was entitled to appeal a trial judge’s decision to release an incarcerated person from custody, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled. Court News Ohio
- Advocates are reaching out to law schools to address the shortage of attorneys in rural sections of Ohio. NBC4