St. Louis City Justice Center

Inmates at St. Louis’ primary jail filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing guards of torturing inmates with mace and depriving them of water for days.

St. Louis officials plan to use part of the Medium Security Institution known as the Workhouse as a temporary holding facility after most inmates are moved this week. Public Safety officials said they’ll use the Workhouse if the City Justice Center becomes too crowded.

Kayla Reed shares what she saw at the City Justice Center and the Medium Security Institution, better known as the Workhouse — and what she hopes city leaders will do with those observations.

Since late December, five protests have erupted at the Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. This latest came Sunday night, when a group of detainees broke windows on the third floor and threw objects out the windows. Inmates could be heard chanting, “We need help” and “We want court dates.”

Inmates at the Justice Center in downtown St. Louis broke out of their cells and rioted late Sunday to protest jail conditions and demand court dates.

Detainees in the City Justice Center last year waited an average of 146 days before getting a preliminary hearing. District Defender Matthew Mahaffey discussed how practices by the Circuit Attorney's Office have contributed to long stays at the jail, which has been cited as a factor in recent unrest there.

Last month, more than 100 detainees at the St. Louis Justice Center revolted, attacking a guard, smashing windows and setting fires to protest their living conditions. The detainees held a floor of the jail for nearly seven hours. Now a new task force, created to investigate conditions in the jail, has released a report that seeks to explain what went wrong and what it will take to fix it.

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson discussed protests at the City Justice Center on "St. Louis on the Air," as well as changes to the city's 911 system and the state's vaccine rollout.

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has formed a task force to investigate public health concerns in the city’s downtown jail. But advocates for inmates doubt the task force will accomplish much.

An uprising and protest at St. Louis’ downtown jail this weekend is leading activists and public officials to two different conclusions when it comes to the city’s other and more notorious jail known as the Workhouse.