By Justin Diep
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
CLAYTON, Mo. — St. Louis County jail staff declined help from police during a riot in February that caused thousands of dollars in damages.
Clayton police reached out to jail administrators to offer help, police said, but were told the situation was under control and didn’t require law enforcement.
That was a mistake, the jail’s acting director told the County Council’s Justice Health and Welfare Committee.
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St. Louis County Police Capt. Timothy Ware, who became the jail’s acting director in June, said he would’ve called for more help.
The committee meeting, on Wednesday, revealed new details about the riot about a month after the jail released a 102-page report on the incident. In the days after the incident, then-acting director Jonel Coleman didn’t answer questions from the County Council, and County Executive Sam Page downplayed the incident.
The riot, on Feb. 7, occurred after 34 inmates refused to return to their cells due to ongoing issues with the Wi-Fi and phone systems.
Another new detail from Wednesday’s meeting: Ware said that the technology issues stemmed from a provider switch.
The report reviewed by the Post-Dispatch found that inmates largely believed staff was intentionally causing the technology issues. It was compounded by longstanding problems at the jail, such as residents often being kept in their cells. Staffing shortages have limited the time residents are let out for recreation.
“When the phones and the tablets aren’t working and we’re unable to get them out of their cells, then that creates problems,” Ware said.
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The report also pointed to critical mistakes staff made leading up to the jail riot, decisions that prolonged the turmoil and led to the destruction of thousands of dollars in equipment.
The biggest issue raised by the report was that staff, seeing inmates out of their cells, left the housing unit, creating a “crime of opportunity,” the report said.
“Why would they abandon this and leave 30 or more people unsupervised?” Councilman Mark Harder asked on Wednesday.
“It was a mistake,” Ware replied.
“If you asked everybody at the jail, we know now that we’re not giving up a housing pod, no matter what,” Ware added.
Harder also asked if jail staff called Clayton or St. Louis County police during the riot.
Ware said staff did not.
But Clayton police spokesperson Jenny Schwartz told the Post-Dispatch after the meeting that her department had called the jail and asked if it needed help.
The county later called Clayton police to investigate the damages to the housing unit.
They found the riot caused $30,804 in damage to the housing unit, including to a computer, security equipment, 33 ceiling tiles, five ceiling lights, two 50-inch TVs and a commissary kiosk.
Police identified four main aggressors and referred charges to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney.
Charges have not been filed.
Ware, the jail’s ninth director in seven years, said new training is ongoing to prevent this situation from happening again — but staffing shortages limit how many officers can be pulled from the jail to train.
“We’re going to come up with some more creative ideas to make sure we get them the training they need,” he said.
Ware also reported the technology issues have been resolved and the Wi-Fi speed has since doubled.
The committee went into closed session to discuss some of the jail’s personnel. Ware declined to say whether disciplinary action was taken against the officers involved, citing “personnel matters.”
Councilman Michael Archer said the committee is on a “fact-finding mission” and, at this time, is not planning to make recommendations to the full council.
“We got a lot of information about policy and implementation, and that probably there were some decisions made that maybe some people regretted,” Archer said. “But those are being addressed.”
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