This website was designed to share information about the Court with the citizens of Lorain County.
Court Topics
 
Pretrial Program &
Court Investigation (CSR)

Program Supervisor
Anthony R. Zerbini: (440) 326-4727

Program Officers
Kristen J. Weishar: (440) 326-4728
Robert J. Ponchock: (440) 326-4729

Jail Case Manager
Sue M. Smink: (440) 329-3798

This program was designated to relieve the overcrowding of the Lorain County Jail of Felony pretrial detainees. Detainees are interviewed by program staff to determine eligibility for the program. After investigation, a request is made of the Court of jurisdiction to set personal bond and be released to the program. Individuals are placed on a supervision level that meets their needs. Urinalysis screening is random. Referrals are made to appropriate community agencies during the period of supervision. The Court is advised of any rule infraction or new offenses committed while in the program. Goals of the Pretrial Program & Court Investigation program are:

  1. Help alleviate overcrowding in the County Jail and subsequently reduce operating costs.  
  2. Attempt to assure Court appearances and decrease the failure to appear rate.  
  3. Decrease the number of new crimes committed by those released on bond through proper supervision and monitoring procedures.  
  4. Inform the Court in a timely fashion of re-arrests and other major rule violations.  
  5. Give defendants the opportunity to return to work, seek employment, obtain GED or job/skills training, be assessed regarding substance abuse and obtain counseling if needed, obtain psychological counseling pending adjudication of the their cases.
The target populations of the Court Supervised Release Program of the Lorain County Adult Probation Department are unsentenced, incarcerated inmates charged with non-violent felonies.

The criteria and placement into the Court Supervised Release can occur in two ways. The first way is all persons booked into the Lorain County Jail are given a Court Supervised Release questionnaire. An officer of the Court Supervised Release Program interviews each inmate that completes the questionnaire.

Background checks are made for prior records, wants and outstanding warrants for the individual. Residence and employment is verified. Possible risk factors such as flight and violent tendencies are identified. If no serious risk factors are identified, then the arresting law enforcement agency is contacted for any additional information for personal bond and assignment to the Court Supervised Release Program is made to the proper Court, listing any risk factors and special conditions to be imposed.

The second manner in which inmates have been assigned to the Court Supervised Release is through the Emergency Release Mechanism, established for the Lorain County Correctional Facility. When capacity is exceeded, the facility must release inmates to reach the mandated population. Inmates are classified by steps. The greater the number, the higher the risk. Inmates that represent high risk and must be released due to the overcrowding are usually assigned to the Court Supervised Release Program. Due to the increased capacity of the Lorain County Jail, this program of release will not be used until capacity is reached.

The official capacities of persons making decisions as to who is assigned to the Court Supervised Release Program are: Municipal Court Judges at the time of the preliminary hearing on felony cases; Common Pleas Judges at any point in a Court proceeding.

There are numerous sanctions that the Court Supervised Release Program can impose on persons assigned to the program, these are:

1. Levels of supervision from minimum to maximum.
2. Electronic Monitoring.
3. Limited travel.
4. Curfew.
5. House Arrest.
6. Random urinalysis.
7. Verbal warnings.
8. Warning letters.
9. Bond revocation.
10. Alcohol or drug assessments.
11. Alcohol or drug treatments, either inpatient or outpatient.
12. Mental health evaluation.
13. Sex offender treatment.
14. GED requirements.
15. Employment.

Sanctions within the Court Supervised Release Program can be imposed from the time of arrest, arraignment, preliminary hearing at the Municipal level and indictment, arraignment, pretrial and pleas prior to sentencing at the Common Pleas level.

There are numerous factors which affect the movement into and out of the sanctions of the Court Supervised Release Program, these are:

1. Random urinalysis test results; either positive or negative.
2. Verifiable employment and work schedules.
3. Prior felonies.
4. Report in as scheduled, either compliance or non-compliance.
5. New arrests.

These affect the individuals’ level of supervision whether to be raised or to be lowered or terminated while assigned to the Court Supervised Release Program.

Several service areas required to impose the sanctions used by the Court Supervised Release Program are:

1. Local telephone services
2. Inpatient, outpatient substance abuse treatment centers.
3. Mental Health facilities.
4. Area temporary employment agencies.
5. Home monitoring agencies.

These services are coordinated with the Court Supervised Release Program through the use of :

1. Correspondence /referral to LCADA.
2. Pay stub to verify employment.
3. Lab reports.
4. Daily fax reports on electronic monitoring.
5. Assessment reports on alcohol or drug evaluation.

In 2006, 99,630 man days were served by the clients assigned to this program with an average daily caseload of 283 clients. In 2007, 80,593 man days were served and the average daily caseload was 227.