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Police got sick of seeing Leon Sims walk out of jail despite not showing up for his subsequent court appearances dozens of times.

So, in a major change from his predecessor, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil and his staff decided to do something about it. His office reversed policy and no longer releases inmates early � at least, not before the inmate sees a judge.

�As a sheriff, it�s embarrassing when an inmate is back on the street before the officer who arrested him,� Neil said Wednesday.

He certainly could have been referring to Sims, 31.

Sims was arrested Tuesday and jail officials discovered he had 29 outstanding arrest warrants connected to failing to appear in court from previous arrests dating back three years. Neil�s new policy is aimed at ensuring that Sims and others like him � who have thumbed their noses at the system since Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. began releasing inmates early to avoid overcrowding at the jail � now have to deal with those warrants.

�They�re scamming the system,� Municipal Court Judge Lisa Allen said of the scores who have warrants issued for them � many with eight or more for failure to appear in court � because they knew there was no room at the jail to hold them.

There�s the same amount of room now at the jail, but Sheriff�s Maj. Charmaine McGuffey, who runs the Hamilton County Justice Center, and her staff have come up with a way to keep the jail population under control while making sure the practice of avoiding a court appearance won�t be rewarded. �Over the last six weeks, we have stopped the revolving door,� McGuffey said.

Under Leis, when there was no room for inmates, they received a date to report to court or begin serving their sentence. But because the jail often was near capacity, those charged often didn�t show up and were seldom punished for it.

From 2009 until Leis retired at the end of 2012, more than 10,000 inmates were released early or had sentences deferred because Leis said there was no room for them at the jail.

Now, McGuffey said, no male inmate will be released early. Because there are so few female inmates compared to males, the women are excluded from the new program.

So, even if it means keeping them two days in their civilian clothes, men charged must see a judge before they are released. �Then, it�s up to the judge,� she said.

Because the jail handles mostly those charged with misdemeanors � and some felons who are awaiting trial or sentencing � the judges most affected by the change are Municipal Court judges who preside over misdemeanors.

�I think it�s great,� Allen said. �It�s not unusual to see them with five or six pages full of (arrest warrants) because they didn�t show up. It�s not catch-and-release any more.�

That�s not good news for Sims.

He was wanted on charges that date to 2010. They include drug charges, falsifications, a couple of public indecency charges and some traffic charges. Each time he was arrested, though, he was released early and told to go to court. He didn�t.

In jail Wednesday on new menacing charges, Sims initially denied knowing 29 warrants had been issued for him, but later admitted he knew. Then he asked for a jail job that hopefully would get him a lesser sentence. Unless he comes up with $70,000 for the bond Municipal Court Judge Fanon Rucker set for him Wednesday, Sims won�t be getting out of jail except to appear in court April 9. �

Liz Dufour contributed.

ZOOM

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130320/NEWS0107/303200184/New-sheriff-new-rule-No-more-jail-early-releases


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