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| My "three-hour tour" of St. Louis jails |
| By kmov.com - Mark Schnyder |
| Published: 06/30/2011 |
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Soon after the April 22nd escape from the second floor of the downtown Justice Center I asked Corrections Commissioner Gene Stubblefield if I could see where that happened from the inside. Better yet, "could I see the whole place?" He said he thought that could be arranged and on Thursday it was. Stubblefield invited all of the St. Louis media to come along and check out both jails. Eight of us took him up on it (four reporters from the Post-Dispatch, two from NPR and my colleague Ray Preston and me from News Four). I might as well get the obvious out of the way first. Yes, they invited us to do this at a specified time and place and of course we only saw what they wanted us to see. HOWEVER, they showed us everything we wanted to see. Stubblefield and his staff didn't shy away from a single question and when you get eight reporters together there are LOTS of questions. They were open about past escapes and things that have gone wrong and showed us what's changed to try to prevent future escapes. Stubblefield said you can always count on inmates "to show us the weaknesses of the facilities." Now for the tour. First the MSI (Medium Security Institution) also known by some as "The Workhouse" even though it's not one. It's got the capacity to house 1,230 inmates. On this day there were 1,052... 141 of which are women. This is the only facility women inmates go. They are not housed at the Justice Center. The place was nearly immaculate. We passed by several freshly mopped white, tile floors. Anyone expecting a dingy, smelly, dark place was pleasantly surprised. The walls are white, the hallways are well-lit and there are windows to the outside world. We passed a gym where there were a couple of half-court basketball games going among the inmates while dozens of others watched and waited their turns from the bleachers. I only saw one security officer in there. I hoped there wasn't a big scrum for a loose ball! Next door to the gym was a chapel where a woman gave spiritual guidance to about five guys. Across the hall was an empty multi-purpose room with a hand-written sign on the door dated December 2003. It said, "Don't drag the chairs out of the multi-purpose room, they'll scratch the floor." Wow. They really care about the upkeep of this place which was built in 1966. The interaction between the guards and inmates was professional and at some points, pleasant. One woman inmate meeting with a case worker turned around and smiled and told the security officer we were visiting with, "I like your hairdo." The officer smiled and thanked her. Down the same hall as the gym is a barbershop where several guys were getting haircuts. The inmates appeared to be well-fed and well-taken care of in general. It was hard to picture things getting out of hand here, but I'm sure they do at times. We covered an escape there last year. Now to the Justice Center. There are some seriously bad people here. No joke. That's why they're in a maximum security facility. The capacity here is 650. There were more than 600 here on this day. Stubblefield says the population is increasingly violent. There was a little yelling going on in intake... A little more yelling on one of the general population floors but nothing was close to out of hand. We didn't go up to the fifth floor where the worst of the worst are kept. Stubblefield explained, "they love an audience" and they weren't going to get one. We saw the kitchen (where they were preparing hot dog lunches with cole slaw and cake). It smelled good. They say "hot links" are one of the favorites here. "Mystery meat loaf" the least favorite. But all the meals meet daily nutrition and calorie requirements and they prepare meals to meet individual health and religious needs. One jail official we were with quipped, "Some guys try to change religions every week." Read More. |
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