Six weeks after St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones fulfilled her campaign promise to close the Workhouse, dozens of inmates were transferred to the facility following two uprisings at the City Justice Center.
Interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom confirmed Sunday that 18 women and 120 men would ultimately be moved to a portion of the Workhouse, which is referred to as the CJC auxiliary annex. As of Sunday, about 70 had been transferred.
Detainees who were transferred volunteered, Isom said, those who wished to remain at CJC were allowed to do so. He confirmed the detainees causing problems were taken to the most secure parts of CJC.
Isom said the annexed portion of the Workhouse facility was part of a contingency plan after its closure while officials updated the CJC and replaced broken cell locks — a process that could take over one year to complete.
“We believe this is the best option going forward for a facility that has been neglected for more than 20 years,” said Isom, standing in front of the CJC alongside Heather Taylor, his senior advisor, and Jeff Carson, acting corrections commissioner.
“In this case, it’s the best of two bad situations that have been allowed to fester for many years,” he later noted.
Isom did not know how long those detainees would remain housed in the annex
The transfer was spurred by two separate uprisings that occurred last week. The first one began around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. During that incident, detainees took control of the pod and corrections officers eventually had to abandon their posts.
They moved furniture and decimated the control station in the middle of the pod. Corrections officers appeared to have control of the situation by 5 p.m.
Then, on Friday at approximately 7:30 p.m., Isom said 25 detainees caused a disturbance during meal and recreation time. No one was injured, however there was some property damage to the jail.
Detainees responsible for each uprising will go through an internal disciplinary process. Isom noted that not all detainees present were involved.
In both instances, officers regained control using pepper spray. 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 they had purchased in the previous six years combined.
Jones’s administration could not confidently explain the unusually large purchase.
On Sunday, when pressed about officer safety, Isom confirmed that there were three officers on duty watching about 60 detainees during the second uprising — a number he said was well above the industry standard of one correction officer for every 40 detainees.
“There are serious systemic problems, not only at CJC but at MSI annex and the workhouse,” Isom said. “These things have been allowed to deteriorate for over 20 years.”
Isom said detainees can jimmy the locks by using items such as toilet paper or toothpaste, which renders the lock almost useless, Isom said that while the door will lock the detainee is able to flip the lock from the inside.
He said while Jones’ administration is looking for a permanent solution, jailers are working on temporary stop gaps which include routine inspection of each lock.
“[But] it has become clear that management of the debris that is placed into the locks, which in effect defeats the lock, is not an option,” Isom said.
Isom said Jones’ administration is zeroing in on a permanent corrections commissioner, a decision that should be made within the month.
Glass retired at the end of May, after four major uprisings on the third and fourth floors of the CJC.
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.
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.
