Several St. Louis leaders visited both of the city’s jails Saturday afternoon to inspect conditions, later describing the facility as disgusting, deplorable, and filthy.
Mayor Tishaura Jones, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and U.S. Rep Cori Bush, D-Mo, talked to detainees and toured areas in both facilities. Afterward, they addressed the media in front of the Workhouse.
“I think I speak for all three of us when I say we were very disappointed, shocked and frustrated by what was seen,” Jones said. “I stay committed to the promise I made when I was running for office, I stay committed to the budget that we introduced on Tuesday to zero out the funding for the Workhouse.”
The mayor said Saturday’s experience confirmed that closing the Workhouse is the right decision.
Jones asserted that the detainees’ rights are not being respected or protected. She said one of the most alarming things she was told was what the detainees are being fed — referred to as mystery meat — and the medical treatment that they are not receiving.
“We don’t have all the answers today, but this is the first step to getting those answers,” she said of the tour.
Bush said they weren’t there today to point a finger or blame, but to change the lives of the detainees.
“As much as we know and have already heard about the conditions, today we saw the conditions a different way,” Bush said. “This is the reason why I ran for office. This is the reason why I believe — and I know —our new mayor ran for office. Because we wanted to not only be able to talk about … what is happening … we wanted access to see what’s actually happening so that we could actually make change for real people.”
In a nod to critics, Bush said she understands the jails are not hotels but said that people’s basic rights need to be protected — describing below-acceptable bathroom accommodations, cleanliness and food. She also said, as a nurse, the infirmary was “absolutely” disgusting, with trash stacked up and piles of things lining the hallways.
Jones added that detainees told them officials only cleaned up because of their visit.
“If you hear it in my voice, I’m glad you do,” Bush said. “Because had you seen the filth, the utter filth, the trash, the bugs … had you seen people wearing clothing that has been maced and they’re still wearing it.”
Gardner echoed both Jones and Bush, saying she was very concerned and disturbed about the conditions.
“They are held in conditions that are deplorable,” she said. “They, as people, regardless of why they’re there, deserve their human basic needs to be met.”
The circuit attorney said she was committed to working with both Bush and Jones to improve the system as a whole — noting that she was no longer working with an administration that would withhold information about COVID-19 and other conditions within the jails.
In addition to Jones, Gardner and Bush, Kayla Reed addressed the public as well. She is the executive director of Action St. Louis — which is one of many organizations to call for the closure of the Workhouse in the last several years.
She told the crowd she was angry and interjected, “Behind these walls we are denying the humanity and the decency and the rights of hundreds of individuals — the majority of them Black, the majority of them come from the zip codes have been long been divested, long ignored and they are being actively mistreated by being denied their rights to a fair and speedy trial.”
Reed said the system is failing — relaying a story that a detainee’s child told him he was saving up his allowance for bail and the fact that her mother experienced the same conditions in 1991.
While Reed said she is encouraged by the new mayor, that does not take away the years that these people’s rights have been violated.
“I have hope that everything that has been promised to the people of St. Louis is maintained, I have faith in mayor Jones that she will close the jail — but it’s not just this jail,” Reed said.
During questioning, Jones reiterated her goal of closing the Workhouse in the first 100 days of her term and said her administration had just approved more money to continue to work on the broken locks at the CJC.
“We don’t need two jails because … the majority of the people we saw today in both facilities are Black and we don’t need two jails — we need to move people through the system, we need to find alternatives to the jails for some of the offenses, we need to help the circuit attorney with her diversion program so they never see the inside of a jail. So, we need to lead with prevention and not with arrest and incarceration.”