People are dying in custody at the St. Louis City jail at a rate that far outpaces that of similar facilities in the region.
Five detainees of the St. Louis County Justice Center have died since 2020. More than three times as many have died in custody at the St. Louis City Justice Center in that same timeframe.
The St. Louis County jail averages about 30% more incarcerated people daily than the city jail. No one in custody has died so far this year at the county jail. One person died there in 2020; zero died in 2021; two died in 2022 and two more in 2023.
This doesn't represent all people who have died in the custody of law enforcement in St. Louis County. The county medical examiner’s office reports that since 2020, at least 33 additional people have died in various police holding cells across the county, in police shootings, police chases and suicide attempts during arrests. Seven of those people died in custody at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, a state prison in Pacific.
Two people have died in the custody of the city jail this year, the lowest number of deaths since 2021, according to the city’s Public Safety Department.
An unidentified man in the jail's custody died around 7 a.m. on Nov. 9; the cause of death is still under investigation. Before that, 33-year-old Katrina Kelly, who was incarcerated at the jail, died on Aug. 28 at an area hospital after she attempted to hang herself while alone in her cell, according to St. Louis Metropolitan Police.
The majority of detainees who died in the jail's custody were pronounced dead at area hospitals.
The latest information from the public safety department shows four people in the jail's custody died in 2020, one died in 2021, six died in 2022, five died in 2023, and two have died so far this year.
Among those, four were by suicide; four were due to drug overdoses; eight were due to natural causes including various health problems, and one was a homicide, according to the city Medical Examiner’s Office.
Public Safety Department responds
At a public safety town hall earlier this year, St. Louis Public Safety Director Charles Coyle said 15 people in custody had died at the city jail since 2020. The two additional deaths since his comments would bring his count to 17, one fewer than the latest figures provided by the city.
Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah at a Board of Aldermen Public Safety Committee hearing in February was also short by one when she said there had been 11 deaths at the jail since 2021.
The city Public Safety Department responded Tuesday to a St. Louis Public Radio inquiry about the discrepancy in an emailed statement, stating one person was excluded because that individual was not yet a detainee at the city jail.
“The numbers referenced by Public Safety Director Charles Coyle during the public safety town hall in January 2024 pertained to deaths that occurred under the Division of Corrections' jurisdiction, which at the time stood at 15,” the statement reads. “This number did not include the death of an arrestee who was in the custody of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Prisoner Processing Unit, located on the first floor of the City Justice Center.”
The department maintains that Coyle's statements at the time were technically correct. Officials said it comes down to whether a person in custody is considered a detainee or an arrestee. The department considers a person a detainee at the jail once they've been arraigned and charges are filed.
“It’s important to understand that the process for handling arrestees involves multiple law enforcement agencies within the City Justice Center, including the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Sheriff's Department, and the Division of Corrections,” the statement continues.
Officials said each entity plays a role in the procedures surrounding the custody and care of arrestees. “As such, there are transitions in custody and responsibility as an arrestee becomes a detainee, which may impact where and how care is administered during that process,” public safety officials stated.
The 18 people who died in St. Louis law enforcement custody between 2020 and 2024 include 17 detainees and one arrestee.
Public safety officials said their online monthly reports are generated and uploaded to the city website quarterly, with each report reflecting the three months before the upload date. A staff member in the Division of Corrections handles those reports, and updates are made once a death has been officially cleared by the Medical Examiner’s Office, they said via email.
They said they’re working with the Division of Corrections to assess current guidelines for reporting information. For now, the department’s monthly online reports contain missing information, inconsistencies and underreported jail deaths at the city jail.
Reporter Rachel Lippmann contributed to this article.
