Nearly 100 social justice activists and protesters from over 20 justice coalitions across the St. Louis region disrupted a St. Louis Board of Aldermen meeting Friday morning, calling for immediate improvements to the city jail.
Clad in black T-shirts that read “Defend Black Lives” and holding various signs with such phrases as “The blood is on your hands” and “No more jail deaths,” organizers from the Freedom Community Center, ArchCity Defenders, Empower Missouri, Missourians Against the Death Penalty and other groups made several demands of St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office and the city’s Board of Aldermen:
Immediately improve jail conditions by eliminating the use of mace on detainees and eliminate the use of “23 and 1” lockdowns, review grievances made by detainees, give the Detention Facilities Oversight Board unfettered access to the city jail and take immediate steps to reduce the jail population by expanding access to supported release programs, pretrial services and other alternatives to incarceration.
“What we're talking about is human rights abuse,” said Maya Lee, an organizer at the Freedom Community Center, on Friday at City Hall. “These are human beings who are being thrown away to be tortured and possibly lose their lives. … This is bigger than just no more jail deaths. This is no more jails.”
Latrell Stanton, 45, an organizer with Metropolitan Congregations United, said the culture within jails and prisons is a root problem.
“Prisons and jails need extra oversight and transparency because those people cannot speak for themselves,” Stanton said. “There’s a terrible culture when it comes to (correctional officers). People die all the time when it comes to medical needs, because (the jail or prison) doesn’t always want to pay for treatment inside prisons. A lot of these natural deaths should really be called ‘jail-attributed deaths,’ and what that means is the jail contributed to their demise.
“When you spray people (with mace) and you abuse people and they have cardiac arrest, or when you refuse to give people their diabetes medicine and they call it natural causes when they die, that is not natural, those deaths are preventable.”
According to the city Medical Examiner’s Office, 32-year-old Carlton Bernard was a detainee at the city jail who died in August 2023 due to natural causes of ketoacidosis, which is a complication of diabetes.
“Carlton Bernard died because he did not have access to his diabetic medicine and insulin,” said Mike Milton, executive director of the Freedom Community Center. “And so this is clear that it is neglect.”
The Board of Aldermen adjourned its meeting early after taking a brief recess due to the commotion from protesters, who marched outside the meeting chanting, “Where is Tishaura?” and “No justice, no peace!”
The sound of banging drums and a choir of voices echoed throughout the City Hall chambers for about an hour. 7th Ward Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier and 14th Ward Alderman Rasheen Aldridge joined organizers after the board's meeting ended.
Both assured protesters that their concerns were being heard. They highlighted a recently passed bill that ensures attorneys can speak to clients held at the downtown jail or other correctional facilities between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. without prior approval. A companion bill sets up similar guidelines for jail access by local elected officials, the Detention Facilities Oversight Board and clergy members.
“Just this session, we passed two pieces of legislation to try to make the jail more transparent,” Aldridge said. “We’ve also worked on legislation with (the Freedom Community Center) and other members to try to address the (Detention Facilities Oversight Board) and there's still a lot of work to do. …. We ain't gonna give up, and there is a public safety meeting that will be happening.”
A bit later Friday, St. Louis Public Safety officials addressed concerns about the 18 people who have died while in custody at the City Justice Center since 2020.
Four people died by suicide, four died due to drug overdoses, eight people died because of health issues, and one was considered a homicide, according to the Medical Examiner’s office.
Public Safety Director Charles Coyle said several changes have been made to improve conditions at the troubled city jail.
They include having police K-9 units search the jail for contraband to reduce drug overdoses, closer monitoring of at-risk detainees, better identification of self-harm indicators and improved coordination with mental health professionals, and improving the quality of meals provided in the jail so they meet nutritional standards and accommodate dietary needs.
Coyle said a new food service contract was implemented in March.
He said the number of detainees who seek mental health support has increased from 20 to over 200 within the past year.
“One death is too many,” Coyle said. “These incidents affect all of us. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and families.”
Deaths at the jail so far this year are the lowest they’ve been since 2021.
The public safety department reported four deaths of those in custody at the city jail in 2020, one death in 2021, six deaths in 2022, five deaths in 2023 and two deaths so far this year.
Coyle said Friday that a discrepancy in his reporting of jail deaths made earlier this year was not a discrepancy at all. In January, he excluded one person when he said 15 people had died in custody at the CJC since 2020 because that person was still being processed and was not yet a detainee.
Coyle said the man who died in the custody of the city jail on Nov. 9 was Antonio Weber, but he declined to share other details as the case is still under investigation.
