This article was published in partnership with , a nonprofit news team covering Ohio鈥檚 criminal justice systems.
Michael Papp鈥檚 body was cold and stiff inside his secluded Cuyahoga County jail cell when a corrections officer finally opened the door.
Officers reportedly walked the pod 50 times, peeking inside cells for signs of life. Yet, somehow, they missed a dead body.
The officer went on to check 19 other cells before sitting down at a phone to call for help. A responding nurse took one look at the body and walked away in apparent frustration.
Jail administrators and staff had once again failed to learn from past mistakes.
Medical neglect, poor monitoring and botched intake screenings have contributed to at least half the jail鈥檚 20 deaths since 2020, according to a Marshall Project - Cleveland analysis.
In of Papp鈥檚 case, state investigators called the staff response and . It was evident, one inspector wrote in her scathing notes, that jail leadership hadn鈥檛 prepared staff for life-threatening emergencies, as directed in the state鈥檚 most recent investigation.
While investigators probed Papp鈥檚 death, another man died in custody after not receiving adequate care, according to .
The string of largely preventable deaths 鈥� mostly attributed to natural causes or drug overdoses 鈥� lay bare how Ohio鈥檚 weak system of jail accountability has failed to protect those held behind bars.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a symptomatic problem of a complete breakdown of what was going on [in the jail],鈥� said Jeff Crossman, a local attorney and former state lawmaker. 鈥淥ne death, you could say, 鈥榃ell, that鈥檚 a terrible tragedy, an unfortunate incident, a one-off.鈥� You start having repeated deaths. I mean, that really is alarming.鈥�
County officials have denied The Marshall Project - Cleveland a tour of the jail or an interview with Sheriff Harold Pretel, who oversees the operation.
A county spokesperson said staff attorneys advised against commenting on in-custody deaths.
鈥淭hat said, the safety of staff and residents at the [jail] remains our highest priority,鈥� Kelly Woodard, director of communications for Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronanye, wrote in an email to The Marshall Project - Cleveland.
Woodard noted that the county has added more drug-sniffing dogs and increased staffing to improve intake monitoring. Woodard did not say when or how many officers were added.
A 鈥榬elatively useless system鈥�
States set and ensure compliance with . In Ohio, jail administrators to the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, where inspectors with the Bureau of Adult Detention review each case to determine if any standards were violated.
鈥淯ltimately, it is the jail鈥檚 responsibility to ensure compliance with the standards,鈥� JoEllen Smith, communications chief for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, wrote in an email.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland鈥檚 analysis found at least one failed standard in more than half of all Ohio jail deaths in 2023 and 2024.
The state reviews include improvement plans created in coordination with local jail officials. But those plans are not always followed, and state officials have not flexed their authority to push jails into compliance.
allows the state prisons director to sue sheriffs into compliance with state standards. But Gov. Mike DeWine, in response to a 2024 of 220 recent Ohio jail deaths, called legal action a nuclear option.
And the state鈥檚 Bureau of Adult Detention can鈥檛 slap a closed-for-business sign on a failing jail like county health inspectors can on a troubled restaurant.
鈥淚f all they can do is oversight and there鈥檚 no teeth and they can鈥檛 close the jail, then it鈥檚 [a] pretty, relatively useless system,鈥� said Marc Stern, a correctional health care expert and former head medical officer for Washington鈥檚 state prison system.
Fatal flaws
Twenty hours before his death in July 2024, Papp, 38, told Cuyahoga County jail staff when booked that he had and often suffered from severe withdrawal.
A drug-sniffing dog was not present when staff searched Papp and failed to find narcotics concealed in his rectum. A jail camera captured him freely using an unknown substance. Toxicology testing detected fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and other chemicals in his system.
Officers isolated Papp in a psychiatric seclusion cell instead of closely monitoring his health. There鈥檚 no evidence that medical staff checked him. While alone and locked inside his cell, he did not touch three meals.
Papp鈥檚 death touched on categorical failures found in several other deaths in recent years.
Poor monitoring is a longstanding problem, according to state investigators, especially in pods designated as red zones due to low staffing.
- In 2020, state inspectors wrote that cell checks were made in 鈥渁 rapid manner not allowing sufficient time to observe the status of inmates鈥� when was found dead of an accidental overdose in his overcrowded cell.
- In 2022, corrections officers took more than the state minimum of one hour to check on , and 鈥� each found unresponsive in their cells.
- In 2023, was returned to the jail after being treated for an overdose but not closely monitored. He died of a second overdose within the week.
State inspectors also found that the jail was not screening anyone for opiate withdrawal when Musson and Turner died on the same day.
The jail failed to provide adequate medical care or respond in a timely manner to complaints and emergencies, state inspectors found.
- died of high blood pressure and heart disease in 2022 while left unattended in the jail鈥檚 sally port.
- Glen Williams Jr.鈥檚 went unanswered in the days before he died of a ruptured aorta in January 2024.
- did not receive appropriate medical care before he had a heart attack in the jail鈥檚 gym in March 2025.
鈥淗e was there for three months and never seen by anyone,鈥� said Kinney鈥檚 cousin, LaDawna Hill.
Still 鈥榮hocked and appalled鈥�
After a detailed inhumane conditions, a coalition of community advocacy groups demanded that the jail comply with state standards, including proper medical care and opiate withdrawal screening.
That year, the state cited the Cuyahoga County jail with after finding few issues in previous inspections. For the first time in Ohio history, Dewine ordered monthly inspections until state inspectors noted significant progress and improvement by October 2020.
DeWine the number of state inspectors from three to nine, adding a registered nurse to the team and passing a rule that allows for surprise inspections. Findings of failed standards would now be shared with county prosecutors and local judges.
But Ohio鈥檚 system of accountability, built on encouraging rather than forcing sheriffs to act, was left largely intact.
In 2020, Crossman and state Sen. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat, to allow state officials to shutter failing local jails. Their action was spurred by several local headlines about avoidable deaths and poor conditions in the Cuyahoga County jail.
鈥淲e were shocked and appalled that anybody would die in the custody of Cuyahoga County, and that there had to be some improvements,鈥� Antonio said.
Antonio introduced that year that would have established standards for opiate withdrawal screening and care in Ohio jails. Such withdrawal can be fatal if not medicated.
The bill was dubbed Sean鈥檚 Law after Sean Levert, son of famed O鈥橨ays lead singer Eddie Levert, died in the Cuyahoga County jail after being denied prescription medication in 2008.
The bills, however, died in committee.
Jada Johnson, a pregnant woman who spent six days in the jail鈥檚 medical pod in January 2025, said she wasn鈥檛 surprised by the neglect and lack of accountability.
Johnson said she slept on the concrete floor of a cold cell, worried about falling off her bunk bed. She didn鈥檛 receive her epilepsy meds the first two days of her stay, she said.
In her pod, she said she watched a woman鈥檚 finger change color before getting treatment for an infection, a diabetic woman demand insulin and a woman with a history of ectopic pregnancy emerge from her cell with a blood-soaked menstrual pad.
Nurses were 30 feet down the hallway but seldom responded quickly, if at all, to complaints, she added.
鈥淭hey take their time with serious things,鈥� Johnson said.
