St. Louis jail tensions 'boiled over' amid COVID-19 worries

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Detainees have complained for decades about conditions inside St. Louis' jails, but when COVID-19 worries were added to the mix, the tension reached breaking point.

In the predawn hours of Feb. 6, 117 inmates at the downtown City Justice Center broke free from their cells. They smashed windows, set fires and tossed chairs, a filing cabinet and other items through the broken glass onto the street four stories below. A corrections officer was briefly hospitalized.

“These were just very angry, defiant, very violent people that we house at the justice center,” Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards said at a news conference that day.

It was the third uprising at the downtown jail since December. Advocates say concerns about COVID-19 are at the heart of the anger.

“They were fed up and scared for their lives,” said Tracy Stanton of EXPO, a non-profit advocacy group made up of former detainees. “This last resistance happened because they still were not being heard. At this point, the pot had boiled over.”

Edwards said there are “zero” virus cases at the jail. Yet so far in 2021, more than 100 inmates or people speaking for them have called a hotline to report positive tests or coronavirus symptoms, said Inez Bordeaux of ArchCity Defenders, a non-profit law firm that operates the hotline.

Litel Joyner, 60, said his son, Litel Gilmore, 41, tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 30 while housed at the justice center.

“He’s really not doing well,” Joyner said. “I think the COVID has kind of taken control of him.”

Edwards' spokesman said he would not comment further.

Inmates complain about a lack of COVID-19 precautions. City officials declined interview requests but cited protocols that include 14-day quarantine periods for each new...