The family of a detainee who died at the St. Louis jail last month said their last goodbyes during a funeral for Samuel Hayes Jr. on Thursday.
A slideshow with images and videos of Hayes played on screens throughout the service in front of more than a hundred family and friends gathered at the Layne Renaissance Chapel. Many wore buttons and shirts emblazoned with his face.
Attendees remembered Hayes as a father and student who had a 4.0 GPA and had attended Ranking Technical College and Forest Park Community College.
“Death of a loved one is never easy, whether it’s expected or unexpected,” said the Rev. Angelia Bunch, who led the sermon. “And while we may say he’s gone too soon, we don’t know how much longer we have.”
Prior to the funeral, Hayes’ mother, Anita Washington, said she’s still in pain.
“I'm hurting, that was my only son,” Washington said. “I need my son here, unfortunately, I can't get him back.”
Hayes died at the jail in July after an altercation with another detainee. He was 31 years old and facing first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges. Officials said sometime during or after the altercation Hayes did not respond to verbal commands and was placed in a restraint chair. He was found unresponsive around 10 p.m. and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:40 p.m., police said.
Washington filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against corrections staff, nurses, the city and a corrections-focused health care provider. She alleges security camera footage shows officers placing him in a restraint chair without resisting arrest and that he fell to the floor multiple times. It also alleges nurses and other officers failed to follow city restraint chair policies, didn’t regularly check up on him while he convulsed for about 20 minutes and that the city has yet to share Sunshine Law requested details of the incident.
Prior to the funeral, family and lawyers for the family held a press conference addressing the ongoing lawsuit against the city, criticizing the city’s response and Mayor Cara Spencer for how the investigation had been handled.
“I voted for you, and I don't understand,” Washington said, adding that she’s emailed and called Spencer. “Unfortunately, I know she's a very busy young lady, but I'm busy too with caring about my son's life.”
A spokesperson for Spencer said they do not comment on pending litigation.
Spencer said at a press conference on July 24 commencing her first hundred days that while she was briefed on the video, she hadn’t seen it. She said that video would be released “as soon as possible” and that the jail has worked to expand access to mental health care and launched a new dorm initiative.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety has said previously that it wouldn't comment on the investigation since it is still pending but to reach out to the St. Louis police’s Force Investigation Unit, which is investigating the incident. Mitch McCoy, an SLMPD spokesperson, said last week that the case file will be sent to the Circuit Attorney's Office for review but that the department’s only role is to conduct a criminal investigation and not the internal review of the incident.
The jail has long been a source of controversy. Detainees have criticized its conditions and alleged abuse from jail workers. Since 2020, 20 people have died at the jail. The city’s Board of Aldermen passed legislation a couple years ago to establish the Detention Facilities Oversight Board to investigate jail complaints. But members of that board have complained that they hadn’t received adequate information on jail deaths and conditions for proper investigations.
Jail leadership is also going through a change. Interim leader Doug Burris announced his departure earlier this month. Tammy Ross was named acting jail commissioner, and Spencer named Nate Hayward the new commissioner of corrections on Thursday.
““[There] needs to be a whole new set of employees down there,” Washington said about Ross’ tenure. “Unfortunately, the people that are down there, they're not really doing their job because ain't no way you guys allow other inmates to die occasionally, time after time like this.”
Washington’s lawyer, Jack Waldron, an attorney for the firm Khazaeli Wyrsch, said he filed an emergency motion asking the court to preserve text messages and electronic communications between officers. He said communications had been deleted in previous jail cases. He also criticized Spencer.
“The current mayor ran on a platform of transparency and accountability, saying that she was going to be different than the other mayors in terms of the jail,” Waldron said. “What we've seen is exactly more of the same.”
Waldron said his next steps are pursuing the security video that he and the family were able to see but not keep and to learn the names of the officers and nurses in the video. Waldron had said the video only shows part of Hayes’ body, and they hope to find other clearer footage from other cameras.
Washington said her family is trying to figure out what happens next without Hayes.
“We have to take it day by day, one day at a time,” Washington said. “This shouldn't happen to no inmate in the ... Justice Center.”
