ST. LOUIS — Interim St. Louis Public Safety Director and former police chief Dan Isom spoke to reporters Sunday about the City Justice Center (CJC) assault by detainees that left four others injured this weekend.
When asked about upgrades and repairs at the CJC, Isom said closing the so-called “Workhouse” on Hall Street back on July 1 gives corrections officials a place to move detainees so that repair work on locks at the downtown facility can be done.
In the Zoom interview Sunday, Isom was asked if he is concerned about the perception the public may have about the safety and security of the CJC building. There have been several incidents — including riots, fires and detainees breaking out of their cells and starting fires — over the past several months.
“Yes, we all are concerned,” said Isom. “It is a facility, as we have reported to citizen advisory committee, that needs $20 million of repairs.”
City officials said just before 12:30 Saturday morning, police responded when about a dozen detainees on the fourth floor beat and kicked four others while on recreation time. Corrections officers removed the targets of the attacks and used pepper spray to “de-escalate” the situation.
“We reviewed video and there were observations from officers who extracted victims of the attack,” said Isom. “The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has already completed a police report and charges will be filed against the persons who were involved in the attack.”
Officials said inmates who participated in the attacks were transported to the CJC Annex. Isom was asked if the annex is the same as the recently closed Medium Security Institution, more commonly known as The Workhouse.
“The Annex,” he said, “which most people cannot see from Hall Street, is a portion that was built in the mid-1990s.”
The CJC Annex is the newer portion of The Workhouse, he explained.
Isom said The Workhouse was a dormitory-style jail, with beds all located in one large room without separation. It’s a situation he called ripe for inmate-on-inmate abuse.
“In the annex, they are pods with individual cells which can possibly have one or two detainees in each cell," he explained.
Isom said all four people who were assaulted Saturday morning received medical care at a hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening and all have since been returned to the CJC.