Sheriff who oversaw troubled Ohio county jail resigns

CLEVELAND (AP) — A sheriff who oversaw a troubled county jail in Cleveland has resigned for what he says are personal reasons.

Clifford Pinkney became Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County’s first black sheriff when he was appointed in August 2015. The jail in the last year has become the subject of investigations, lawsuits and indictments against corrections officers and high-ranking officials, including the jail’s former director and warden.

Pinkney has no publicly listed phone number and couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service issued a report last November calling conditions at the jail “inhumane” and unsafe for inmates and staff. Overcrowding continues to result in inmates being locked in their cells for periods exceeding 24 hours.

Eight inmates died between June and December of last year. A ninth died earlier this month.