City officials on Wednesday announced that an associate warden in Arkansas will take over as St. Louis’ new corrections commissioner.
Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah is scheduled to begin work Sept. 13.
Acting Public Safety Director Dr. Dan Isom wrote in a statement that Clemons-Abdullah has a wealth of experience that is essential for the role.
“We look forward to working with her to bring the City Justice Center up to full operation after decades of neglect, and to help ensure the safety and well-being of our corrections staff and detainees,” he wrote.
Clemons-Abdullah’s predecessor,Dale Glass, resigned June 1. At the time he announced his resignation St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones confirmed he was not asked to resign, but said she believed the “failed leadership” overseeing the corrections division had left the city with a huge mess to clean up.
Glass was appointed to the role by former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in May 2012.
Clemons-Abdullah will have a list of problems to address within the city’s jails that plagued Glass’ time as commissioner. Most notably, the City Justice Center has experienced at least six detainee uprisings since the end of December — all blamed onfaulty locks in the facility. Those uprisings include two last month that resulted in thetransfer of about 140 detainees to the now-closed Workhouse.
Thefirst two protests occurred just before and on New Year’s Day. Each time, the inmates refused to return to their cells in protest of inadequate protections against COVID-19 for those being held there.
Then, in early February,inmates took over the north side of the fourth floor of the jail, breaking the windows and throwing debris down onto the sidewalk and street. The fourth protest happened on Easter Sunday and mirrored February’s uprising but on the third floor.
“We look forward to working with her to bring the City Justice Center up to full operation after decades of neglect, and to help ensure the safety and well-being of our corrections staff and detainees.” —Acting Public Safety Director Dr. Dan Isom
Then, in June, three detainees sued the city in a complaint detailing numerous stories of abuse at CJC, mostly alleging correctional officers excessively pepper spraying inmates and withholding access to clean water as punishments.
The St. Louis American recently reported that in March former Corrections Commissioner Dale Glass approved a $17,379 order for the chemical, or as much pepper spray as the department had purchased in the previous six years combined.
Jones administration, which took over in April, could not confidently account for the large purchase.
A release from the mayor’s office outlined Clemons-Abdullah’s lengthy corrections experience. It includes over 46 specialized certificates of leadership training within corrections; experience working for the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons; nationwide experience serving at nine institutions.
Most recently, Clemons-Abdullah served as an associate warden at Federal Correctional Complex, Forrest City in Arkansas. There she served as the labor management relations chair, prison rape elimination coordinator, affirmative employment chair and incident commander.
She also achieved an exemplary audit from the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape and led an environment management system review prior to COVID-19.
Jeffrey Carson, who has been acting as corrections commissioner since Glass resigned, will continue to serve as a supervisor for the Department of Corrections.
Clemons-Abdullah was not available for an interview.
