Susan Martin’s 33-year-old son, Christian, has been detained at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton since the summer.
She brought his 7-year-old daughter to visit him in custody for the first time sometime in July or August, but the phones in the visiting booths weren’t working. Jail officials said they’d have to reschedule.
“I started crying for (his daughter) because she doesn't understand, and it's heartbreaking for him, because you can just see each other through the glass. It's thick, (and) you can't hear each other through that. It's upsetting to a child who wants to see their parent, and it's also upsetting to him, because he wants to talk to his little girl.”
Christian has been detained since late June on first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action charges. A grand jury indictment was filed in July. He’s accused of harming his girlfriend during an altercation in June. A counsel status hearing is tentatively scheduled for next month.
For a few weeks, Martin said she and her granddaughter, along with her 83-year-old mother, would visit the jail, hoping for a chance to actually see and speak with Christian.
They'd schedule the visits at least 24 hours in advance, per jail policy. Detainees are allowed one 40-minute social visit a day and up to two visits per week.
Some visits were successful, but it was mostly hit or miss, Martin said.
“Another time I went to visit him, and they just never brought him, and they didn't give any reason,” she said.
“You kind of hold your breath until he's sitting across from you,” Martin added. “I've witnessed other people that have come in to sit down. They know the phones are broken, and they still put them up in that booth. …They're just like, ‘We'll just reschedule it. We won't count that against you, come back another day.’ And it's like, well, that's not always convenient for people.”
The experience has been anxiety-inducing for the Martin family — so much so that in recent months, they’ve opted to communicate through phone calls to decrease the risk of being turned away and disappointed.
The issue is not uncommon.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, prisons across the U.S. mostly returned to in-person visits, NPR reports. But in jails, where pre-trial detainees are housed for shorter periods, there's been less interest in reopening doors to families as virtual visits normalized.
Poor conditions at the 14-story Clayton facility were highlighted in recent months through an American Correctional Association inspection report and St. Louis County Council meetings.
In addition to nonworking phone booths, Martin says her son has complained about frequent flooding inside the jail and that he and other detainees are suffering from poor mental health after being allowed one hour of recreational time a day, and sometimes none. She said he’s also complained of poor food quality and unsanitary conditions, including standing water and feces in the cells at times, many of which were mentioned in the ACA report.
Inspectors reported that several detainees complained about having no recreation or showering due to excessive lockdowns, as well as receiving meals on wet, dirty trays.
Martin also noted that the use of physical books has been lessened at the facility, though detainees are provided e-books on tablets.
“Books are one of the few respites they have from their environment,” Martin said. “Removing physical books feels inhumane.”
A management perspective
St. Louis County Justice Services Department acting Director Jonel Coleman, in a statement released earlier this week, acknowledged that books had been temporarily removed. But there's a reason, she said.
“The inmates were using books to introduce contraband and tearing the pages from the books to dip in chemicals to smoke,” Coleman said. “Over 35,000 books are available on the tablet.”
Coleman told St. Louis County Council members in recent months that at least $36 million is needed over the next five years to improve the building's infrastructure, to fund programs that train staff in handling mental health situations and to hire more employees, among other things.
Coleman pointed to a 22% staffing shortage as one reason detainees aren’t allowed out of their cells more often.
“They do not have adequate time (outside their cells), because we do not have adequate staff,” Coleman said. “Do we attempt daily to get individuals out of their cells? Of course we do … but we don't have the staff for that, and that is exacerbated by the fact that we're required to have two officers in the housing (units).”
She said flooding has been an issue due to the crumbling infrastructure of the 27-year-old building. In addition, she said some jail residents who get upset for various reasons or are suffering from mental health episodes will destroy fire sprinkler heads, which immediately release water afterward.
She told the county council committee last month that because of this, there's a dire need for at least $12.5 million for a new sprinkler system and at least $16 million for flush controls. She said a sprinkler system is needed that only releases water when it senses heat, so that when aforementioned incidents occur, the place won’t flood.
“The amount of money and time we spend cleaning up floods, having to call maintenance in, having to wake up resident workers to come and clean these floods — it's a big issue.”
According to Coleman, everything isn’t always as it seems from the outside looking in. For example, when detainees complain to their loved ones that they aren’t receiving medications, there's often more to the story, she said.
“What is told to the community sometimes versus the reality aren't the same,” Coleman said to members of the county council's Justice, Health and Welfare committee last month. “I'm not saying that there is no truth to anything. That would be untrue. There are some truths to it, but I'm saying there is not some rash of individuals who are being denied medical treatment. … (We) have to prioritize care. We have 1,300 people here that have to be seen.
“We don't want anything happening to anyone in the jail, because we have to answer for that, and just because they're human beings, I don't want them to be mistreated.”
Detainees are suffering
Experts say poor jail and prison conditions are inhumane and have historically neglected to provide true corrections.
“Not only are you sitting in a detention center, functionally being caged like an animal, allegedly for the purposes of rehabilitation, but you are fully disconnected from society,” said Leah Fessler, an attorney at Khazaeli Wyrsch Law in St. Louis. “And I think the research shows that being disconnected from any semblance of support network is going to cause distress, anxiety, depression, and exacerbate underlying psychiatric conditions.”
She said the toll it takes on families is equally harmful.
“I'm not a parent, but I know from every parent that I speak to that there is no pain or fear or anxiety that will ever challenge the level that you feel about your own child being in detention and under the supervision of people that you have no control over,” Fessler added.
Martin said in light of that, she understands why people are afraid to speak up.
“It was very soul crushing,” Martin said. “You hear these things, and you cannot control what's happening. I wouldn't want this for anyone's child, not just mine, regardless of what they're charged with.”
