Cuyahoga County Council

June 7, 2018

The Honorable Armond Budish

Cuyahoga County Executive
2079 East 9th Street – 8th Floor
Cleveland, Ohio 44115

Dear Executive Budish:

In follow-up to Council’s May 22nd Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee regarding the
County Jail Medical Unit, we would first like to thank you for having your staff come in to
discuss this topic.

Medical care in the County Jail and our regional jails is a top priority for Council and we take
this life-or-death issue very seriously. Our goal is not only to meet, but exceed the state
minimum standards of care for the inmates and to ensure the safety of all medical personnel in
the jail in order to provide exceptional care for those who are under the jurisdiction of
Cuyahoga County.

Council made this point loud and clear last Fall when you proposed privatizing healthcare for
the inmates during the 2018-2019 biennial budget process. Council rejected your proposal and
fully restored funding to keep MetroHealth in the County Jail because MetroHealth has done,
and continues to do an outstanding job running the medical unit since 2013, when Council and
the previous administration brought MetroHealth in to provide healthcare for the inmates.
Bringing The MetroHealth System into the jail was one of our top priorities in the wake of Sean
Levert’s untimely death while in the county’s custody under a private healthcare company.

We are asking the administration to review the statements made during the Public Safety and
Justice Affairs Committee, particularly those from Gary Brack, MetroHealth’s Interim Director of
Ambulatory Care. Following the committee Council was provided with additional information
supporting several of Mr. Brack’s statements as well as many general statements made by
others at the committee meeting. We know we can always do better and we believe we can
learn a lot from that Committee to improve the way we currently operate.

2079 East 9th Street, 8th Floor • Cleveland, Ohio 44115 • (216) 698-2010 • FAX (216) 698-2040
Ohio Relay Service 711 • Council Website: council.cuyahogacounty.us
As a starting point, we do appreciate your willingness to finally increase the nurses’ salaries and
are willing to provide any additional funds needed to ensure we are fairly compensating our
medical unit and adequately staffing all of the jail facilities. Council expects the administration
will exhaust every opportunity to ensure full staffing at all of our jail facilities. We recommend
the County employs nurses at all three of our jail facilities 24/7 to ensure the safety and health
of all inmates. If necessary, Council will provide additional appropriation to hire nurses for
these three facilities.

Additionally, we ask that you review the County leadership at the Jail. Although we may not
agree on the number of nurses needed for each shift at each facility, we know there were many
false statements and inaccuracies presented to the committee, which is inexcusable. As we
have learned past experience, this issue is a matter of life and death for those in the County’s
custody and we cannot have county officials making false statements either privately or
publicly.

MetroHealth is not just a vendor, it is our public health system and our partner in this
endeavor. MetroHealth’s expertise in this field far surpasses our capacity to provide medical
care for those in the jail. MetroHealth is the primary healthcare provider for indigent and
underserved populations, and can best provide continuity of care for inmates post-release. We
therefore urge the administration to begin serious discussions with MetroHealth about taking
responsibility for the medical care throughout all the County’s jail facilities, including bringing
the nurses’ unit under MetroHealth to ensure continuity of care for the inmates. We will work
with the rest of Council to provide any additional necessary funds.

We appreciate your serious consideration of these recommendations and hope you are
committed to working with us on this issue.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions or if you would like to discuss this
further.

Sincerely

Michael J. Gallagher Dan Brady

Chair, Public Safety & Justice Affairs Committee Council President

Cc: Clifford Pinkney, Sherriff

Earl Leiken, Chief of Staff
County Council Members