From [HERE] Cuyahoga County, Ohio, jail has a practice of keeping people behind bars long after they are meant to be released in order to boost its profits, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Alanna Dunn filed the class action lawsuit against Cuyahoga County on Feb. 23 in an Ohio federal court, alleging nearly 300 people were kept in jail long after they were supposed to be released, Cleveland.com reports.

The lawsuit reportedly states the county had a practice of keeping people behind bars after judges ordered them released, or after prosecutors declined to pursue charges. 

Dunn, a Cleveland woman, alleges she spent two days in jail after Cleveland police and prosecutors decided not to press charges against her.

According to her lawsuit, she is one of at least 289 people “over detained” in 2021 and 2022. 

Attorneys for the plaintiff said they believed many more could have been over detained in the jail during that time, because their estimates were only based on Cleveland police officers’ arrests, Cleveland.com reports.

County jail asked for Cleveland inmates in order to generate revenue, lawsuit alleges

Cleveland police started taking fresh arrestees to the county jail instead of the city jail beginning in 2018, as part of a deal with the county, the lawsuit states.

County officials reportedly pushed to house Cleveland’s inmates because they believed it would generate revenue. The county earned $99 per day for each inmate, and cut costs for basic inmate care so it would make a profit.

The lawsuit says people were over detained for up to 56 days in some cases. It adds that, most months, about a dozen people spent time in jail longer than they were supposed to.

According to the complaint, 159 people were kept in the facility longer than they should have been in 2021, and 130 were kept too long in 2022.

“The county’s widespread and systematic over detention of people in its custody results in serious harm,” the lawsuit states. 

“Even a single additional night in jail can severely disrupt a person’s life and have lasting destabilizing and traumatic effects.”