Matthew Devoti

In a Tuesday order, Circuit Judge Joan L. Moriarty cited a lack of staff at the City Justice Center — and subsequent reductions in detainee services — as reasons to require Sheriff Alfred Montgomery's office to immediately provide transportation to external medical providers.

Following an hourslong hearing, Sheriff Alfred Montgomery said his office should take over the City Justice Center in order to provide detainees with improved medical care.

Sheriff Alfred Montgomery's lawyers warned of "irreparable harm" to the safety and security of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Courts if the office is forced to medically transport jail detainees in a request for a temporary restraining order filed Monday.

The bill now goes to Mayor Cara Spencer's desk for final approval. It comes after Sheriff Alfred Montgomery sparred with the board's budget committee last June.

The St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery backtracked on a plan to stop transporting sick and injured detainees to the hospital at a budget committee meeting Monday. He’d previously told Mayor Cara Spencer his office did not have the resources to do that transportation.

St. Louis voters will select representatives for the Board of Aldermen’s seven odd-numbered wards.