Members of the St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board met with a detainee at the St. Louis City Justice Center on Thursday after seeking access to inmates for more than two years.
The board’s members used the meeting to explain the role they have in scrutinizing conditions at the jail. The detainee told them that detainees want better food and medical care and cleaner conditions.
“The people who would benefit from this program of oversight, as mandated by the Board of Aldermen and supported by the mayor, are still not aware that we exist,” Detention Facilities Oversight Board Secretary Pamela Rice Walker said.
Board members said they're encouraged that they finally got to speak to at least one person housed at the jail after years of attempting to meet with detainees.
“I think it is a step in the right direction, but we still have more questions," said the Rev. Darryl Gray, chairman of the oversight board.
“It's sad that it took 2½ years, but at least I'm glad we got to this point,” Gray said. “Now it's up to us to make sure that we follow up with the process.”
But Gray said the meeting wasn’t without concerns. Board members requested to speak with a detainee from each of the jail’s five wings but were only allowed to speak with one and his lawyer. Gray said board members were told that they couldn’t meet with the wing representatives because their lawyers weren’t available.
The board also wasn’t aware that city lawyers would attend the meeting. Gray worried the detainee might have been less likely to be open about jail issues with city lawyers present.
“You're talking about an inmate who's locked up and who continues to have to be an inmate,” Gray said. “We leave the building, he has to be there. And he's not looking necessarily at us. He's looking past us at the commissioner of corrections, two deputy commissioners, two program managers and a host of other staff. To me, that would be intimidating.”
A representative from Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office and the city public safety office did not respond to a request for comment.
Jones established the oversight board in 2022. The board was formed to investigate jail complaints from detainees and jail workers following a number of deaths and accusations of inhumane treatment at the jail.
But the board has criticized the mayor, Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah and the city counselor's office for denying them access to the jail. Two board members quit the oversight board last year over a lack of transparency on jail issues and access to the jail. City officials had said they limited board access to the jail because some members had not finished the required training.
Last November, members of the board took their first tour of the jail weeks after the Board of Aldermen passed legislation reducing the amount of necessary training. The legislation also gave oversight board members an independent opinion.
“But still, that lawyer still works under the city counselor office,” said Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, vice chair of the Public Safety Committee. “Now as we go into this new session that the Board of Aldermen started in these last few weeks, we will be looking at that ordinance again.”
Aldridge is also working on legislation that would allow lawyers, clergy and elected officials greater access to the jail.
Gray said the board will meet Monday with Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, the city's health director, to go over health policies at the jail.
Gray and Walker served on the corrections task force under former Mayor Lyda Krewson. Gray said they had more access and were able to meet with detainees without lawyers.
He said it's critical for the board to have better access.
“One of our staff members reached over and said to me, ‘Reverend Gray, in the past, as staff, we've been able to meet with detainees without all of this,’” Gray said. “Again, we've got to ask ourselves, what has happened that this has to happen? What is occurring within this jail that makes it necessary to have two city lawyers in a meeting to talk to one inmate?”
