Volunteer pretrial support aims to reduce jail population

This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their Cleveland newsletter, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Cleveland is out to prove that, with personalized support, fewer people with felony charges would miss court and end up in jail.

The church’s social justice project is funded by a $105,000, two-year grant from UUCC’s Sue McKimm Fund for Congregational Advancement and supported by Advancing Pretrial Policy & Research at the national nonprofit Center for Effective Public Policy. The program is tracking outcomes for pretrial clients assisted by 40 volunteer “navigators” who undergo extensive training.

Existing programs at the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas ensure compliance with court orders through electronic monitoring and supervision of select groups, like people with mental health and developmental disability needs. UUCC is hoping to fill a gap with one-on-one support that addresses barriers to showing up in court.

Pat Dillard, a church member on the project’s steering committee, said many clients struggle because of a lack of housing, transportation, food, access to required government documents or other reasons.

“They have so many things on their mind,” she said. “It’s like a cycle that makes you focus on your immediate needs. Your mind just doesn’t recall that, ‘Oh, yeah, I had a court date.’”

While numbers are on the decline, county judges signed nearly 11,000 warrants for failing to appear at arraignment in the past three years. One arrest order was issued for every five scheduled hearings in 2024.

So far, UUCC has received all of its clients as referrals from the county public defender’s office. Dillard wants court-appointed and private defense attorneys to know that their clients can get help as well by calling 440-318-4365 or emailing pretrial.support@uucleveland.org.