Cuyahoga County has undertaken an ambitious effort to replace the current County Jail facility housed at the Justice Center. In preparation for facility replacement, Cuyahoga County has also elected to implement central booking, a key best practice for arrestee and detainee management.

Central booking eliminates many of the delays in the criminal justice process, bringing all relevant agencies together at the time of arrest. This allows for more timely and informed decisions and leads to improved outcomes.

What is central booking?

Central booking will allow stakeholders to make more informed and timely decisions related to arrest, diversion, charging when necessary, and release of arrestees from custody. A process improvement made possible through a facility redesign, central booking will also do away with the current linear criminal justice “steps," eliminating resultant delays in the process, and engage all the relevant agencies at the time of arrest.

Stakeholders integral to the successful implementation of central booking have been engaged in program planning and implementation. These agencies are as follows:

• Cleveland Police Department
• Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department - County Jail
• Cleveland City Prosecutor
• Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
• Cuyahoga County Public Defender
• Cleveland Municipal Court
• Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
• Cuyahoga County Clerk of Court
• Cleveland Municipal Clerk of Court
• Cuyahoga County Witness Victim

Why central booking?

Central booking seeks to ensure that during the arrest and arraignment process, arrestees are:

• Treated fairly and with dignity and respect
• Diverted from the criminal justice system when appropriate
• Charged justly and properly
• Provided counsel at the earliest opportunity
• Released on the least costly financial and non-financial conditions that will reasonably assure public safety and appearance at court