ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis’ new mayor, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush and several other officials met with detainees at both of the city’s jails Saturday to check out conditions and highlight reform efforts.
Mayor Tishaura Jones said she is particularly concerned about complaints she heard about substandard food and lack of access to medical treatment in the city’s jails.
“People deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” Jones said, and referred to her father’s time in prison. “As the daughter of someone who was incarcerated, this is personal for me. This is someone’s father, someone’s mother, brother … grandfather.”
Jones has pledged to close the medium security jail known as the workhouse, which has often been criticized for unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Her budget proposal presented Wednesday calls for closing it by July 1.
Bush said they were told stories about human waste on the floor and saw inadequate health care facilities within the jails.
“It was absolutely disgusting,” Bush said.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said she hopes to work with Bush and Jones to reform the system. She said the coronavirus pandemic has added to crowding at the jails and delays in trials.
“We have to look at public safety,” Gardner said. “Not everyone is the worst offender, but we have people who commit violent crimes and we have to understand that they have a right to a jury trial as well as victims have a right to be heard in court.”
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