City Jails

The former jail oversight board leader is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Mensah says they were beaten unconscious by police while visiting the jail in 2023.

Outgoing Commissioner Doug Burris speaks highly of Ross despite controversy and leaves a staff of nearly 100 correctional officers at the troubled St. Louis Justice Center, where 20 detainees have died in custody since 2020.

The mother of Samuel Lamont Hayes Jr. filed a wrongful death lawsuit against St. Louis and other defendants over the death of her son.

City officials confirmed Tuesday that Doug Burris will leave the role when his short-term contract expires. He took the position on an interim basis in January.

The family of Samuel Hayes Jr., a 31-year-old who died at the St. Louis City Justice Center on Saturday evening, says he wasn’t resisting arrest when he was put in a restraint chair.

On Tuesday, St. Louis Associate Circuit Court Judge Rochelle M. Woodiest granted Janis Mensah’s motion to acquit them of trespassing and resisting arrest charges.

Samuel Hayes Jr., 31, died while being detained at the St. Louis City Justice Center on Saturday.

Upon leaving custody, ServSafe-certified participants are qualified to apply for jobs at restaurants, grocery stores and other food service companies.

The St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment relaunched its program to help city jail detainees prepare to make careers in growing industries once released.

The jail director, who reports to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, was known to be at odds with the city's Detention Facility Oversight Board over the lack of transparency and conditions at the City Justice Center.