Lucas County commissioners signed agreements Wednesday with the 10 Lucas County Common Pleas Court judges and the municipal court judges of Toledo, Maumee, Oregon, and Sylvania for a screening program at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio for inmates sentenced out of their courts.

The risk-based administrative release program, believed to be the first of its kind in Ohio and possibly the country, will enable staff at the regional jail near Stryker, Ohio, to evaluate inmates as they enter the facility to determine the risk they pose to public safety and the chance they will commit new crimes.

The information will be given to judges for deciding the eligibility of inmates for release on 24-hour electronic monitoring and reintegration into the community.

Carol Contrada, a county commissioner, said the program could be key in capping the courts on prisoner allotments and keeping the county from exceeding its 303-bed cap at the jail.

“If the court goes over their cap, there will be a one-for-one exchange. Someone will get released and the way they get released is by the judges using this tool,” she said.

County and court officials said the ability to assess inmates as they are booked into the jail will reduce the sentenced population by about 30 percent, saving the county about $3.3 million annually in incarceration costs.

Judge Tim Kuhlman, who is one of seven Toledo Municipal Court judges, said risk-based assessment is not intended for violent offenders who commit rape, robbery, murder, or sex crimes, but rather for those who can have a better outcome by not staying in jail.

“I believe that not every crime needs to be punished by jail time,” he said.

The program, they said, was collectively designed with input of the 20 judges, regional jail staff, and county commissioners to offset the loss of funds by the city of Toledo in intentionally withdrawing from the regional jail.

Toledo had been responsible for 228 of the 638 beds at CCNO, or about 36 percent of the facility's operating costs. The city took steps to end its nearly 30-year partnership in the Corrections Commission by intentionally missing the nearly $1.32 million quarterly bill due July 1 for its share of the beds at the jail.

Lucas County, which is under contract for 203 beds for inmates sentenced in Common Pleas Court, Maumee, Oregon, and Sylvania, is now paying for 100 of Toledo’s 228 beds. The additional beds will cost the county about $864,000 for the last four months of 2016 and nearly $2.6 million in 2017.

The jail, which has about 220 employees, also provides beds for prisoners from Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties.

The county commissioners approved a $250,000 contract Tuesday with CCNO to pay its staff for training and implementation of the program. The contract will cover the costs for next two years and is being funded through the $1.75 million Safety and Justice Challenge grant the county was awarded in April from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Jim Dennis, CCNO's executive director, said staff in the booking unit currently doing assessments will input additional information on inmates as they arrive for the risk-based release classification.

CCNO staff and Mr. Dennis will have information not previously available.

“The additional information will put people in the right programs and the right security levels,” said Mr. Dennis, who has been a corrections official for 35 years. “It is pretty innovative. Theoretically it is an interesting idea. ... I don't think it has been done anywhere before.”

Lucas County is also buying an additional 90 electronic monitoring devices at a cost of $390,000, also paid through the Safety and Justice grant, to monitor inmates released through the program. Electronic monitoring options for the judges includes devices for alcohol detection, drug screens, and GPS for no contact orders.

The judges can also put sentenced inmates in drug treatment, including in-patient and lock-down facilities where defendants cannot leave.

Judge Kuhlman said he favors efforts to reduce the number of people in jail while holding defendants accountable for crimes and protecting public safety.

“In order to do that we need to be smart about who we have in jail and don't have in jail. There has to be an assessment to figure out who is low medium and high risk and also help determine what services defendants need to be less of a risk. Then we will be in a position to know who we can safely release,” he said.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published September 1, 2016, 4:00 a.m.