The two St. Louis City Workhouse jail guards accused of forcing inmates to fight each other pled guilty to charges of burglary, assault and obstruction of government operations on Aug. 15 in the 22nd Circuit Court.
The guards, Elvis Howard, 34, and Dexter Brinson, 46, received no jail time. Brinson received four years of probation, and Howard received three and a half years of probation.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the workhouse to release all information relating to a federal class-action lawsuit filed by former and current inmates in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The judge gave a Sept. 27 deadline for disclosing the information.
The lawsuit alleges that guards forced inmates into the “gladiator-style” combat as a form of punishment and entertainment, as well as other acts of cruel and unusual punishment.
The federal court’s order for records “goes a long way towards us being in a position to litigate this case,” said Freeman Bosley Jr., one of the four attorneys who filed the lawsuit.
For years, the ACLU and other groups have reported misconduct of inmates in the St. Louis justice system, said Daniel R. Brown, another attorney in the lawsuit.
“Now that the guards have pled guilty, it’s no longer an allegation – it’s a fact,” Brown said. “We believe these aren’t the only two guards who did this.”
The federal class-action lawsuit – filed in August 2012 against the guards, the City of St. Louis and the city’s Department of Corrections – now involves 45 to 50 current and former inmates, though it started with only seven. The plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages of $150 million.
The lawsuit also calls for a court injunction for reform in how inmates file complaints against the guards. Currently, the inmates file their grievances with the guards themselves, said attorney Ryan Smith.
“The complainers are complaining to the violators,” Smith said.
If the lawsuit is successful, the judge will issue an order, said Paul Sims, another attorney in the lawsuit. And if the city does not follow that order, the city can be held in contempt.
“We believe once we are successful, we will be able to make a change in the way business is being done at the workhouse,” Sims said.
In May 2012, the two guards, Howard and Brinson, were caught on prison security cameras escorting plaintiff Thaddeus Dumas to the cell of plaintiff Derrick Rodgers to watch them fight. The guards were arrested, and Rodgers and Dumas sought legal counsel with Brown and Smith. According to the court filing, Dumas claims he was threatened and ordered to assault inmates at the workhouse on more than one occasion.
The case became a class-action lawsuit when Smith and Brown spoke to Sims, who also had clients in a similar situation. His clients allege that they endured serious injuries, including a broken jaw, and never received medical attention.
Howard and Brinson both received suspended sentences in their criminal cases for the May 2012 incident. A “suspended imposition of sentence” is not a conviction in the state of Missouri. Therefore, the guards will not have to disclose the offenses on certain job applications, Sims said, even though Howard pled guilty to burglary in the first degree – a felony charge.
Howard and Brinson both pled guilty to assault in the third degree and obstruction of government operations, which are both misdemeanors.
“We are looking for reform in the justice system and workhouse,” Smith said. “We mean the court to dictate to the city how these institutions should be run because obviously they don’t have it within themselves to run the facilities in a proper manner.”