St. Louis City Justice Center

St. Louis police officers on Thursday forcibly removed the vice chair of the St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board from the St. Louis City Justice Center.

A new law on oversight took effect in 2022 but immediately faced legal challenges. The work has also been delayed by disputes over access to complaints and to the City Justice Center, St. Louis’ jail.

Two inmates with a history of disciplinary problems took the guard, a man in his 70s, hostage during breakfast service around 6 a.m. A police SWAT team had to use less-than-lethal force to rescue him.

The St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board wants the city’s top officials to ask the Commissioner of Corrections Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah to resign by Friday. Board members say she is blocking them from entering the jail and investigating complaints of alleged misconduct.

St. Louis’ Detention Facilities Oversight Board is calling on city officials to compel the division of corrections to provide requested documentation on the St. Louis City Justice Center.

Inmates at St. Louis’ primary jail filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing guards of torturing inmates with mace and depriving them of water for days.

St. Louis officials plan to use part of the Medium Security Institution known as the Workhouse as a temporary holding facility after most inmates are moved this week. Public Safety officials said they’ll use the Workhouse if the City Justice Center becomes too crowded.

Kayla Reed shares what she saw at the City Justice Center and the Medium Security Institution, better known as the Workhouse — and what she hopes city leaders will do with those observations.

Since late December, five protests have erupted at the Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. This latest came Sunday night, when a group of detainees broke windows on the third floor and threw objects out the windows. Inmates could be heard chanting, “We need help” and “We want court dates.”

Inmates at the Justice Center in downtown St. Louis broke out of their cells and rioted late Sunday to protest jail conditions and demand court dates.