ST. LOUIS — A disturbance inside the City Justice Center (CJC) in downtown St. Louis left several detainees injured early Saturday morning. It’s been two weeks since the last disturbance, making for a total of six incidents inside the downtown facility in less than a year.
It started at about 12:30 a.m. when about two dozen detainees were participating in recreation time in a secure area of the fourth floor, mayor's office spokesman Nick Dunne confirmed with 5 On Your Side. During that time, he said about a dozen of the detainees started beating and kicking four other detainees.
Corrections officers got the victims out of the area and used pepper spray to get the situation under control, Dunne reported. The victims of the attack were taken to a hospital for treatment.
After checking surveillance video to see what happened and who all was involved, City Justice Center officials called in the St. Louis police and sheriff's departments to help move some inmates out of the facility.
“No SLMPD officers were injured and the incident was eventually resolved,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.
Saturday’s incident comes two weeks after the last reported disturbance inside the City Justice Center. During that incident, 25 detainees started the disturbance during routine dinner delivery, which led others to leave their cells and join in. Justice center officers used pepper spray to get the situation under control.
That incident on July 31 was the second one that week, which prompted city officials to make some changes. They started to temporarily move dozens of detainees out of the downtown facility and into the City Justice Center annex building, formerly known as The Workhouse.
The city has said there are plans to move 18 women and up to 120 men to pods in the facility.
Police and sheriff's department officials helped move those involved in Saturday's incident out of the downtown facility and into the Workhouse facility, bringing the current total to about 80 detainees at the annex. More transfers are expected, Dunne said.
He explained that moving the detainees is part of an ongoing effort to speed up work that's being done to fix the locks and locking system at the justice center.
"The City of St. Louis is making a significant investment in necessary upgrades to bring the doors, locks, and locking systems up to standard after decades of inaction have heightened the risks they pose to the safety of detainees and Corrections staff. The City is committed to remaining transparent around the status of the CJC, and to advocate for a fair and speedy trial for pretrial detainees as well as restorative justice to reduce recidivism among returning citizens who have served their time," Dunne wrote in the email Saturday.
In the past year, detainees have been able to get out of their cells at least five times by jamming locks full of toilet paper and toothpaste.
Acting public safety director Dan Isom spoke about the lock issue following the July incidents.
"It's not uncommon for locks to be defeated,” said Isom. "The problem is we've allowed these locks to be in this condition for 20 years."
Isom said the city is working on a long-term fix, but it's going to cost millions.
"Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes," he said. "I'm sad to say there aren't, but we’re going to do the best we can under these circumstances."
The most violent offenders have remained at the City Justice Center in pods where the locks haven't been a problem.