ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis City Justice Center is at the center of another controversy after two disturbances last week among inmates.
And while city leaders are speaking out about their latest plan to settle things down inside the downtown jail, public Defender Matthew Mahaffey said one thing went through his mind.
"I'm not surprised. The outcomes for our clients haven’t improved much," he said.
Mahaffey says the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a backlog in the local court system, but it doesn’t explain why he’s been unable to connect with many of his clients on the inside.
"That doesn’t instill in me confidence that their safety is the number one thing that is being considered at this time," Mahaffey said.
"There are systemic problems not only at CJC, but (also) at (the Medium Security Institution)," said acting public safety director Dan Isom.
In the past year detainees have been able to get out of their cells five times by jamming locks full of toilet paper and toothpaste.
"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."
In the meantime, the city is moving 18 female and up to 120 males detainees back to an annex at the Medium Security Institution, also known as The Workhouse, where they will face a familiar problem.
"The detainees actually try to do the same things to the locks at the annex, but there are different mechanisms that allow us to detect that a little more rapidly," Isom said.
Mahaffey said he hopes no thinks moving detainees is going to produce a different outcome.
During the move the most violent offenders will remain at the City Justice Center in pods where the locks haven't been a problem.
The detainees who were caught on camera being part of the disturbance will face internal discipline.