The St. Louis City Justice Center is nearing capacity while struggling with deaths, staffing shortages and medical-care concerns that a new NAACP report says reflect problems St. Louis has confronted in its jails for more than 50 years.
The 43-page report, released Tuesday by the St. Louis City NAACP, argues that problems at the downtown jail go beyond any one mayor, corrections commissioner or medical provider. It points instead to years of decisions about jail capacity, staffing, medical care, funding and oversight.
The NAACP calls for more corrections officers, stronger medical oversight, monthly public reporting of deaths and overdoses and a long-term plan for the 24-year-old jail. The organization says the city must decide whether to expand or replace the facility or invest substantially more in maintaining it.
“If all we do is point fingers at each other, nothing will get done,” NAACP President Adolphus M. Pruitt II told The St. Louis American.
At least 22 people have died while in custody at the City Justice Center since 2020, according to St. Louis Public Radio’s review of Public Safety, police and Medical Examiner records. The NAACP report cites 21 deaths, a count that predates the Jan. 31 death of Dametria McDile, 32.
Of the 22 deaths, at least 11 followed medical emergencies or involved health conditions, four were ruled suicides and four were ruled accidental drug overdoses.
The deaths are occurring as the jail operates close to its stated capacity. The City Justice Center opened in 2002 with a capacity of 860 people. The city reported 804 people confined Aug. 30 — about 94% of capacity.
The NAACP says the jail is on a “one-year runway” toward overcrowding, a projection that has not been independently verified.
Staffing also has been a persistent problem. The Marshall Project reported that corrections officer employment at the city jail fell 32% between 2021 and 2024 while the detainee population increased 40%.
The NAACP says Corrections requested $50 million for fiscal 2026 but received $43 million. It says the division sought funding for 130 officers but received funding for 120, compared with what the report describes as a fully staffed target of 190.
One of the report’s findings raises questions about what happens after someone dies.
The jail’s medical contractor told the NAACP that it conducts a written review after every death. But the city’s corrections commissioner and corrections director told the organization they have not been receiving those reports, something the report says they confirmed during an Aug. 28 meeting.
The NAACP wants those reviews distributed to city officials and redacted versions made public.
The report also credits current officials with improvements, including adding medical examination rooms on jail floors and improving the transfer of medical information when detainees are sent to hospitals.
Its concerns come against a long history of problems in St. Louis jails. A federal judge documented severe overcrowding and inadequate medical care at the old city jail in 1973, beginning years of federal litigation and court supervision. The current City Justice Center opened in 2002.
Federal authorities are again reviewing concerns. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division notified the NAACP in April that its complaint had been referred to the Special Litigation Section for review.
The referral does not mean federal officials have found constitutional violations or opened a formal investigation.
Pruitt said the NAACP was able to conduct its review because police, jail and sheriff’s officials cooperated.
“When you look at the number of deaths, it’s like, ‘There’s something wrong and there has to be a solution,’” Pruitt said. “No one can dispute that we took a very thorough look.”
The report says current officials are working in good faith but warns that lasting improvement will require broader action on staffing, medical oversight, jail capacity and funding.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.