THE PLAIN DEALER, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1975

Sexual assault problem may plague new jail, jury says

By Richard M. Peery

The problem of sexual assaults in County Jail will not end when the jail moves to the Justice Center, a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury reported yesterday.

The prediction was contained in a report signed by Dr. Henry E. Kelly, a Cleveland Heights dentist who was foreman of a grand jury panel that met the first half of this year

Overcrowding is one cause of the as-sault problem, the report said, and overcrowding will continue at the Justice Center.

The investigation into jail conditions

was ordered by Common Pleas Judge Bernard Friedman in March, after he received complaints from inmates who said they were victims of homosexual rape.

"With the constantly expanding (jail) population and without a corresponding increase in supervisory personnel, due to budgetary restrictions, conditions became ripe for much clandestine activity of the inmate population," the grand jury found.

"In an environment of this kind, it becomes the objective of the sophisticated, calloused, aggressive, predatory type of inmate to dominate the young, impression-

able, weak, submissive, even handicapped inmate," the report said.

"Sexual and physical abuses just followed as a matter of course," it concluded.

The report also criticized using a range boss in each section of the jail. The range boss serves as a go-between for guards and inmates.

"This individual is usually the most sophisticated or the strongest inmate in the cellblock," the grand jury said.

"Our investigation has shown that there is evidence of great risk to weaker, more submissive or handicapped inmates in the activities or lack of activity of the range boss"

Although the jail was built to hold up to 375 inmates awaiting trial, the panel found it was now holding more than 500 prisoners, including some serving time as convicted felons and some federal prisoners housed under a contract between the county and the federal government.

The report, released by Common . Pleas Judge David T.Matia, recommended that all convicted felons, women and firstoffenders who are not charged with violent crimes be removed from the jail.

Inmates could be better supervised if 30 to 40 deputies who now do work that could be performed by civilians were reas-

signed to guard duty, the report said.

Because the Justice Center will not be large enough to accommodate all persons awaiting trial, the report urged that the Workhouse and the present jail be used as satellite facilities.

During the investigation, the grand jury heard from 17 witnesses, including two victims of sexual assaults and two victims of other jail assaults.

County commissioners, defense lawyers, jail personnel, Sheriff Ralph E. Kreiger and Cleveland Municipal Judge Sara J. Harper also testified.