ST. LOUIS — The American Civil Liberties Union is joining with other advocacy groups in asking city officials to grant them immediate access to the City Justice Center to document the treatment of inmates there in the aftermath of mayhem that erupted last weekend.
The ACLU, ArchCity Defenders and the state public defender's office are among those that issued a letter to the city Wednesday saying stories shared by inmates and their lawyers paint "a very different picture from that advanced by the city."
The letter asks Mayor Lyda Krewson and other city officials to respond by the next day, Thursday, on whether access to the CJC will be granted. The groups threatened civil action if they're denied entry to the jail's housing units and common areas.
Inmates have for months complained that not enough precautions were being taken to protect them from the spread of COVID-19, the letter said. City officials have said they've taken adequate steps to limit any spread, including giving inmates personal protective equipment.
"These concerns have only escalated, and conditions worsened, since the protest this weekend," according to the letter. "We have received first-person reports of some people in CJC going over 72 hours without being provided with food or water, the very most basic necessities of life."
Some inmates have been forced to sleep on the floor without any bedding and areas of the downtown jail have sewage on the floor, the letter said. The ACLU and others also criticize conditions at the city's second jail, the St. Louis Medium Security Institution, where they say there's also filthy conditions and little to no heat as temperatures plummet.
A spokesman for the city said the city counselor's office is drafting a response to the letter.
The CJC over the course of several weeks has been the scene of at least three disturbances, with the most serious last Saturday when inmates on the fourth floor were able to jimmy their locks, slip their cells and gain access to hallways and exterior windows. The unrest and damage was captured in cellphone recordings by onlookers outside the CJC and broadly shared on social platforms.
