ST. LOUIS — Many have eyed the conditions and operations at the City Justice Center in Downtown St. Louis in recent years and in the last few days.
Jay Kanzler, a criminal defense attorney with 30 years of experience in the St. Louis region, said he recently met with a few clients at the facility on Monday - a day before police confirmed five detainees assaulted and held a corrections officer hostage.
A St. Louis police source told 5 On Your Side one inmate struck the officer in the head and another hit him after he fell to the ground.
The source added that both inmates then dragged the guard into the showers, took his mace, keys and handcuffs, and handcuffed him to the shower area. The inmates took the guard's radio and began complaining about a lack of hot food and demanded "pizza and chicken patties" in exchange for the guard's release.
Kanzler told 5 On Your Side some of the stories he heard from his clients were not far-fetched.
“They were locked down most of the time. [A client] had indicated he had two showers in two weeks. He was unable to get his medications. especially his breathing medications," Kanzler said.
Kanzler made the point that these individuals were being housed pre-trial.
“I have no doubt that some of the folks over there are actually innocent so they are going to go back out on the streets. Yet during this period before trial, they are being treated like those folks that are being convicted if not worse than those folks that have been convicted,” he said.
The city's Commissioner of Corrections, Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah, said during a press conference on the day of the hostage incident that they listened to complaints over the years. She also said the center is addressing the basic human needs of inmates.
“We have increased the food [and] redone the menu altogether. We've increased our medical to make sure things are done expeditiously,” she said.
Kanzler said that with the change in the Circuit Attorney's Office, more and more people are being charged with crimes now and there needs to be resources to meet the demand of the numbers on trial.
“It's a matter of guards, doctors, nurses and social workers,” he said.
We spoke with the correctional officer's daughter, who said her father got a concussion and a busted lip.
Meanwhile, the inmates involved in Tuesday's incident are still being housed here at the Justice Center.
Sgt. Charles Wall with the SLMPD said the detainees involved in Tuesday's incident could face charges ranging from assault to felonious restraint.