St. Louis’ City Justice Center is in the midst of crisis again, with people being held at the jail revolting once more on Sunday after complaints about disastrous conditions and de facto indefinite detentions went unresolved.
People held at the jail broke windows, set fires and took other measures to bring the spotlight back to their plight, according to local outlet KMOV4. Sunday’s uprising comes nearly two months after another revolt took place at the jail on Feb. 6.
One of the biggest complaints people have is that their court dates are being pushed back and not rescheduled, forcing them to spend months in the jail during a deadly pandemic that has ravaged prison populations across the country. More than 900 people are held at the jail and some were moved to a medium security prison after the revolt.
Those on the ground heard the men screaming “we need help” and “we want court dates,” according to St. Louis Public Radio.
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St. Louis Public Radio quoted ArchCity Defenders Executive Director and lawyer Blake Strode, who noted on Twitter that the average number of days before a probable cause hearing is 146 and the average total days people were spending at the City Justice Center was 344 before someone went to trial.
“I guess because when you have two disgusting, scandalous jails, neither one can survive on its own?” Strode wrote on Twitter.
“If anything, this is yet another reflection of how this practice of mass caging has failed and continues to fail all of us. It’s more urgent than ever to close one of these two hellholes NOW and put that time, energy, and money to good use in our communities,” he added.
This is the second time that the City Justice Center, located in downtown St. Louis, has faced a revolt over the unconscionable conditions that detained people have to live with, according to CBS News.
KMOV reporters got video of people in the jail throwing things out of the window on the jail’s third floor and setting fires while screaming out to people on the ground for help.
The news outlet reported that the city has delayed many court hearings because of COVID-19 but that they heard more than 12 inmates at the jail yelling to receive a court date.
Source: Men Incarcerated In St. Louis Jail Stage Second Uprising In Two Months: ‘We Want Court Dates’
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