Poor sanitation in jails has been the subject of civil rights lawsuits for decades. Plumbing issues, vermin infestations, feces-covered walls, and limited access to basic hygiene products, such as soap or tampons, are common complaints.
This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project - St. Louis, a nonprofit news team covering Missouri’s criminal justice systems. Subscribe to their email list, and follow The Marshall Project on Instagram, Reddit and YouTube.
Courts almost universally agree that a lack of basic sanitation violates detainees' constitutional rights, said David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project. Pre-trial detainees have sued, arguing that filthy conditions violate their due process rights. If a person has already been convicted, allegations of foul living conditions are considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Despite widespread legal challenges, many jails across the country are still filthy. Litigation against substandard conditions often ends in a settlement, Fathi noted, with officials agreeing to a change in policy, or better monitoring and enforcement, in exchange for not taking the case to trial. Settlements are typically the fastest route to clean things up, but they don’t set a legal precedent for other facilities, meaning there’s nothing requiring jails in the same county or state to adopt reforms.
Good hygiene in jail is often about more than detainees’ willingness to keep clean. Understaffing, overcrowding, facility maintenance, and mental health issues can all play a role. For example, the ACLU of Oregon, settled a lawsuit in 2019 against a county jail that had allegedly crowded a dozen women into a single intake cell, where they had to beg for toilet paper and menstrual products, and were denied showers.
“People don't want to live in filth,” said Dr. Fred Rottnek, director of community medicine at St. Louis University and former medical lead at the St. Louis County Jail. “They are at the mercy of the administration to provide needed services because they can't do it on their own.”
Reporters from The Marshall Project’s local news teams dug into the state of sanitation at the jail in St. Louis. They found that poor jail maintenance and management, as well as understaffing, mean many detainees are left to live in unsanitary conditions.
St. Louis city
On most days, Marvin Young is desperate for a shower. For over a year, he’s been detained at the St. Louis City Justice Center awaiting trial on an attempted robbery charge.
“I haven’t had a shower in three to four weeks,” he said in June from the jail’s visiting room, pulling at the stains on his jail-issued T-shirt. Even through the glass, the odor was unmistakable.
Detainees are supposed to have shower access at least three times a week, according to jail policy, which was last updated in 2020. (The city did not respond to multiple requests for confirmation that staff still adhere to these policies). In the past, detainees have accused jail staff of withholding water access to punish people for speaking out about their conditions or asking questions. Jail policy says correctional officers can also force people to shower in certain circumstances. According to Young, however, people are desperate for the chance to rinse off.
“We gotta take bird baths in our cell,” he said, describing how he tries to cover the small opening in his cell door for privacy before attempting to clean himself over the sink. “I try to keep my spirits up, my health up… [but] I've been so mad, my knuckles are black from punching the walls.”
Current staffing levels mean there aren’t always enough officers to supervise people during recreation time — the hour that detainees get outside their cell for showers, phone calls, and stretching their legs — or to check and see if cells are clean. The jail, which houses roughly 800 detainees, is currently down about 50 correctional officers, according to jail commissioner Nate Hayward.
Hayward, who started at the jail in September after more than three decades at the county jail, said his goal is to hire 40 correctional officers by January, as well as two additional maintenance workers to address clogging in the showers and other facility needs.
The city’s former jail commissioner, Doug Burris, told The Marshall Project in April that roughly half of the pods in the jail were on a 23-hour lockdown. People formerly incarcerated at the jail described being held for days at a time in cells with feces on the walls. Their only reprieve was the hour they could spend in the dayroom — when there was enough staff to supervise it.
To make matters worse, detainees rarely have enough hygiene supplies, said Khanika Harper, a member of the city’s Detention Facilities Oversight Board.
The jail is supposed to give each detainee a personal hygiene kit with a toothbrush, soap, and deodorant when they first enter the jail. Once they run out, they have to purchase replacements through the commissary, or apply for free items through a caseworker if they can’t afford the commissary. Certain items, like underwear, can only be replaced for free after a caseworker has physically inspected the old ones, according to jail policy.
Harper said she’s heard multiple reports of people not receiving soap, deodorant, or cleaning supplies for their cell and common areas, leading to a buildup of dirt and bacteria on people and surfaces alike. The showers have cockroaches and feeble water pressure, she added. Men wash their clothes in the sink when they can’t get clean laundry. Women on their periods are supposed to receive free pads and tampons from caseworkers, but Harper said detainees told her those supplies don’t always make it to women in time.
“If they have mercy on you, they’ll get it to you when they get it to you,” she said.
Hayward, however, is optimistic that some of the strategies he implemented at the county jail could also work in the city. For example, on days when the county jail was too short-staffed for detainees to get out for rec hour, he instructed shift captains to let people out for the few minutes they needed to take a shower.
“If they don’t get out all day,” he said, “we gotta at least give them a shower.”
