Politics
Missouri Corrections fined $60K for Sunshine Law violations
The Missouri Department of Corrections must pay more than $60,000 for refusing to give records to a mother trying to find out how her son died in 2021 while in state custody.And that amount could grow, both because the department lost an appeal of an order finding it violated the Sunshine Law and because the mother is now suing the state for wrongful death in her son’s death by suicide.The wrongful death lawsuit asserts the department, its officers and contract medical provider were “negligent, derelict, reckless and in breach of their ministerial duties” in the death of Jahi Hynes.In a decision delivered Tuesday, the Western District Court of Appeals upheld a trial court judgment that the prison agency committed a “knowing and purposeful violation of the Sunshine Law” to prevent Willa Hynes of St. Louis from learning her son hanged himself with a bedsheet while in solitary confinement.The department asserted the records were inmate medical records protected from disclosure and its investigation was not a law enforcement investigation as defined in the Sunshine Law. The appeals court rejected the first argument and did not address the second.“We find there was substantial evidence from which the trial court could have found the DOC acted with the intent to achieve some purpose by violating the Sunshine Law, namely, to hinder Hynes from pursuing a potential civil claim against the DOC relating to her son’s death,” Judge Edward Ardini wrote in the unanimous decision. “Such conduct amounts to a purposeful violation.”The ruling sets a precedent for the department’s Sunshine Law policies at a time when deaths are increasing in state prisons. Activists for prison reform have tracked deaths and found that deaths have increased by one-third as prison populations fell nearly 25%.From 2012 to 2014, there was an average of 31,442 incarcerated people in state prisons. Deaths averaged 89 per year. Over the past three years, with an average of 23,409 incarcerated people in state prisons, deaths have averaged 122 per year.There have been more than 100 deaths in Missouri prisons in five of the last six years.Michelle Smith, director of the Missouri Justice Coalition, said at a January memorial service for deceased inmates that the department routinely withholds information about deaths from family members.“We are trying to raise awareness of the fact that hundreds of people die in Missouri prisons every single year and nothing is done,” Smith said at the memorial service.On April 1, Hynes filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the department, its contract medical providers and 11 corrections employees of negligence in allowing her son to possess the bedsheet and failing to conduct required checks on inmates in administrative segregation.
Rudi Keller
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Missouri IndependentLaShon Hudson, mother of Michael Hudson, speaks last January during a memorial service for the 364 Missourians who died in state custody from 2021-2023. Hudson was accompanied to the microphone by family members, left, and Michelle Smith, director of the Missouri Justice Coalition.
The department used every means possible to block access to information about the death, attorney Linda Powers, who represents Hynes, said in an interview with The Independent.“They are doing death investigations internally without involving outside law enforcement and then skirting the requirements of the Sunshine Law that law enforcement produce investigative records by claiming they are not law enforcement,” Powers said.Karen Pojmann, spokeswoman for the corrections department, declined to answer questions about the department’s Sunshine Law practices and if they have changed as a result of Hynes’ lawsuit. She also declined to comment on the wrongful death lawsuit.“The department doesn’t comment on litigation,” Pojmann wrote in an email.The Sunshine Law penalty includes a $5,000 fine for the knowing violation and more than $55,000 in attorney fees.In her request, Hynes asked for all of her son’s records since his incarceration, plus his medical records, the investigative report on his death, and surveillance video of the area where he was in administrative segregation.All of the material was turned over late last year, but not before Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green issued an order giving the department five days to comply with his judgment in full. That order was issued after Powers asked Green to enforce the judgment and the records were produced only after she sought contempt sanctions because the department had done nothing for four additional weeks.The investigative report, Powers said, was a document seemingly written to protect the department from liability, not to relate the truth about Jahi Hynes’ death.“When you look at the evidence and what the video shows, you can determine what happened,” Powers said.The video and other documents withheld by the corrections department until the court order form the basis of the factual allegations in the lawsuit, Powers said.Jahi Hynes was sentenced in 2013 in St. Louis Circuit Court to 13 years in prison for first degree robbery. He was 27 when died April 4, 2021, at the Southeast Missouri Correctional Center in Charleston.He had a history of mental health problems, the lawsuit states. In September 2020, while housed at South Central Correctional Center in Licking, he spoke with a mental health professional about extreme mood swings and his history of hospitalizations for attempted suicide. He asked to be put back on psychotropic medications he had not been taking since he was incarcerated.Jahi Hynes was denied the medication and about three months after his transfer to the Southeast Correctional Center, the lawsuit states, he was cited for a “minor assault” for allowing his food port door to strike a correction officer’s hand, causing abrasions.He was moved to the administrative segregation unit, and placed on restrictions for allowed personal property intended to prevent inmates from harming themselves. On the first day, Hynes was only to be allowed boxer shorts and eyeglasses, receiving pants, a blanket and a mattress the next day and allowed shoes, socks, and bed sheets on the fourth day.The lawsuit states that department regulations require checks at least every 30 minutes on inmates in solitary confinement. There were periods of more than five hours where no checks were made, the video surveillance shows, according to the lawsuit.The surveillance video also shows the ease at which prisoners cut off from contact with other inmates can trade items on strings run from cell to cell in a system called “cadillacing.”While he wasn’t supposed to have pants, the video shows an inmate working as a porter giving him a pair of sweatpants taken from Hynes and placed on a hook outside the cell just four hours after being placed in the cell.One inmate gave Hynes a bedsheet via the cadillacing system and another gave him a T-shirt. The system is elaborate enough to transfer items from one side of the prison wing to the other and from one floor to another.“From approximately 11:09 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. (April 4), in plain view of the cameras, using the line secured by the offender, the inmates cadillaced items from one side of C-Wing to the other four times,” the lawsuit states.At 3:26 p.m., Jahi Hynes was found hanging in his cell, from the bedsheet he had received from the other prisoner, wearing the T-shirt and sweatpants. A corrections officer had done a cell check about a half-hour earlier and seen Hynes had the prohibited items.“None of the defendant correction officers removed the t-shirt, pants or bed sheets that were cadillaced to decedent from decedent’s cell, despite orders mandating that they do so,” the lawsuit states.The delays in receiving the information compounded Willa Hynes grief over the death of her son, Powers said.“It is unconscionable,” she said. “Ms. Hynes went two-and-a-half years wondering what happened to her son.”This story was originally published by The Missouri Independent, part of the States Newsroom.
One year after they passed the original legislation, Missouri legislators have approved a fix to a law allowing property tax freezes for seniors.Members of the House voted 139-0 Friday to pass the bill. Since it has already gone through the Senate, it now goes to Gov. Mike Parson.The current law allows local governments to pass ordinances that would freeze property taxes for seniors. It also would allow voters to approve such an ordinance.St. Charles and St. Louis counties, as well as the City of St. Louis, have already passed their own ordinances on the issue.The way the law is structured now, only seniors who receive Social Security would be eligible for a property tax freeze. That requirement has left out seniors who are on pensions like police officers and firefighters.Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, sponsored both the original bill and the changes this session.“Rather than tying eligibility of the property tax freeze to Social Security eligibility, we instead tied it just to age,” Luetkemeyer said.Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield, said the legislature did the first part of the job last year.“Now it’s time to make sure that this language clarifies and we can properly expand this to make sure all our seniors can benefit,” Keathley said.The freeze would still only be applicable in municipalities that have approved an ordinance.One provision that some Democrats wanted to add this session was a means test, under which seniors with higher incomes would not qualify for the freeze.That language was not added to the final bill.
The Missouri legislature has passed a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would prohibit ranked choice voting in most of the state.Members of the House voted 97-43 Friday to pass the resolution. It has already cleared the Senate and does not need the approval of Gov. Mike Parson.The resolution states that under no circumstances “shall a voter be permitted to cast a ballot in a manner that results in the ranking of candidates for a particular office.”The resolution has a carve-out for St. Louis, which implemented an approval voting system in 2020 for its municipal elections.Through this system, voters can select as many candidates as they want in a primary. The top two candidates then go to a runoff election.The proposed constitutional amendment would not affect St. Louis’ system.Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, sponsored the House version of the resolution. He said he was not in favor of the exception for St. Louis.“I’m not OK with it, but this is where we’re at with this language of what we can get done in the body. I think it’s still a big step in the right direction,” Baker said.In speaking against the resolution, Rep. Eric Woods, D-Kansas City, said it was unnecessary and not the way to reassure people about election results.“There are other ways, other systems, other ideas that we can adopt to keep our democracy or our republic, whichever word you want to prefer to use, vibrant,” Woods said.In addition to the ban on ranked choice voting, the resolution states that the candidate who receives the most votes in a political party primary will be the only candidate on the ballot for November for that party.The resolution states that all elections will be by paper ballot or by “any mechanical method prescribed by law.”Included within the proposed resolution is language stating that only U.S. citizens who are 18 or older, residents of Missouri and residents of the political subdivision they vote in are entitled to vote in elections. That language does not make any changes to existing law.Similar language has been a point of contention all session, where it has been in the same conversation as an amendment that sought to make it harder to amend the constitution.Democrats have stated all session this language was being added by Republicans to trick voters into approving it. Senate Democrats filibustered for about 50 hours, eventually killing those proposed constitutional changes.
Missouri’s chaotic and divisive legislative session sputtered to a close on Friday with the inability to pass a measure making it harder to amend the state’s constitution.The failure of constitutional threshold boost, precipitated by a marathon Democratic filibusters and GOP infighting, is seen as a major win for abortion rights proponents. And some lawmakers see the end of this session as an end of an era where a GOP supermajority could impose its will.Since the beginning of the year, Republicans have struggled to pass a measure that would require any constitutional amendment to pass in five out of eight congressional districts in addition to a statewide majority. The big sticking point was whether to include other provisions, such as a measure banning noncitizens from voting — something that’s already illegal in Missouri.After a record-setting Democratic filibuster, Senate Republicans threw in the towel on having other items in Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman’s resolution when they couldn’t get enough members to force a vote. House Republicans rejected any proposal that didn’t include the noncitizen voting, and the Senate adjourned shortly after 10 a.m. — effectively killing the proposal for this year.Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, issued a Tweet on the social media platform X saying that the other provisions, dubbed ‘ballot candy’ by both critics and supporters of the constitutional threshold boost, were “unnecessary” and “deceptive” additions aimed at misleading voters.
This week, the Missouri Senate spent almost 50 straight hours attempting to pass IP Reform. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful and sent the bill to the House.Late yesterday, the House attempted to pass the same bill back to us. There’s no way the Senate can get done in 8 hours…— Caleb Rowden (@calebrowden) May 17, 2024
He reiterated that message in his end of session press conference.“I think the entire fact that had to be in there is a slap in the face to Missourians,” said Rowden. “I think that Missourians are absolutely smarter than they give them credit for.”Democratic Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said the demise of the bid making it harder to amend the Missouri Constitution helped preserve Senate traditions — including an aversion to forcibly ending debate using what’s known as the previous question motion.“Democrats and Republicans came together this past week, and said enough is enough of this hyperbole,” said Rizzo, D-Independence.Rizzo also said it was likely that Republicans would try again at some point to reign in the initiative petition process. “And it might come back with a vengeance honestly,” he said.Some Republicans contended that the only way to raise the bar for constitutional amendments would be to include other items, especially since any proposal would face a torrent of expensive and well organized opposition. Similar measures to boost the threshold to pass constitutional amendments failed resoundingly in Arkansas and Ohio.Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, said if the proposal went down in flames this year, it could shelve the idea of making it harder to amend the Missouri Constitution for the foreseeable future — pointing to how GOP leaders abandoned ‘right to work’ as a priority after it was overwhelmingly repealed in a statewide referendum.“I would rather see that we’re able to cover a multitude of areas that are important to voters to protect our election process, and that’s what we’re attempting to do,” said Brattin, the head of the Missouri Freedom Caucus.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, speaks to Majority Floor Leader Jon Patterson, R-Jackson, on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
Abortion vote looms largeHouse Republicans, such as Speaker Dean Plocher, expressed exasperation that the Senate couldn’t get their act together on what they dub ‘IP reform.’ The Des Peres Republican has contended that the failure to get it done could make it more likely that a proposal legalizing abortion will pass.“We the House are not responsible for abortion that may pass in Missouri. I blame that squarely on the Senate,” Plocher said.Plocher and other Republicans wanted the constitutional threshold boost on the ballot in August — with the hopes it would pass and create a tougher standard for the abortion initiative to pass in November. But Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden questioned whether that would actually happen, adding that it’s possible that any initiative in November would only need a majority.“The notion that IP reform being on the ballots is the magic bullet to make sure that the abortion IP doesn’t pass is ridiculous,” Rowden said. “It’s going to take Republicans and conservatives and folks who disagreed on IP folks who disagreed on any number of things to get out to the ballot and vote against that thing in November.”Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, strongly disagreed with Rowden’s interpretation.“The plain reading of the constitution says it goes into effect 30 days after. So if it was on the August ballot, then that means per the plain reading of the constitution, it would be in there the first week of September,” Koenig said. “Now, how would the courts rule on that? I’m sure there’d be lawsuits and sure there’s a chance. … But the plain reading of the Constitution says 30 days.”Sen. Bill Eigel, of Weldon Spring and a member of the Freedom Caucus and a candidate for governor, said “I still have confidence that Missouri didn’t become any less pro life as a result of the failures on the Senate floor.”“We’ve been winning that fight for two decades in this state,” Eigel said. “And I think that a lot of folks, no matter how many failures we see from all these politicians, I think a lot of folks are going to be surprised by a whole bunch,” he said.But House Minority Leader Crystal Quade not only expects for voters to find favor with the abortion legalization measure, but for it to help elect enough Democrats to break the GOP supermajority.“This is something that Missourians want, because they’re tired of Republican overreach,” Quade said. “They’re tired of politicians in their doctor’s offices and telling them how to live their lives.”
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri Senate Majority Floor Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, pauses while giving closing remarks on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City. O’Laughlin gaveled the Missouri Senate out minutes after gaveling in and a week of disfunction.
Session personified by bitter GOP factionalismFriday’s Senate adjournment marked a somewhat anticlimactic end to a session that was highlighted by bitter fighting between Senate GOP leadership and the Missouri Freedom Caucus.The disarray included protracted clashes between the two factions over a multitude of issues, including the reauthorization of a tax known as the FRA funding the state’s Medicaid system. That led to an unprecedented situation where lawmakers ended up approving the budget without going to a conference committee.Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin adjourned the Senate much earlier than usual on the last Friday of session — and said she did so because she didn’t want to exacerbate tensions. Thursday featured bitter public sniping between Eigel and Freedom Caucus critic Sen. Mike Cierpiot.Plocher alluded to how the Senate didn’t approve a single bill during the last week of session — something that hasn’t happened in recent memory.“Every year is unusual,” he said. “But this has been a less productive year on the other side of the building when the House has put its foot forward for the state of Missouri.”Quade pointed out that, excluding budget bills, this was the least productive session in terms of legislation passed in recent history.“It is an interesting feeling as a Democrat here in Missouri when we are relieved that they aren’t able to get their act to get together enough to actually do something,” Quade said. “There were so many terrible bills that did not pass, not only because of their infighting, but because of our Democrats doing such an amazing job of understanding how to navigate that.”
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, wipes a tear away after giving her farewell address on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
But Quade added that lawmakers also didn’t act on things with bipartisan appeal, including increasing the age that someone can get married from 16 to 18 years. Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, also noted that an effort to provide tax credits to help child care centers also faltered.“That is the major disappointment of session for me. And just because we didn’t pass legislation doesn’t mean that the issue has gone away,” Arthur said. “If anything, it’s going to get worse, because there hasn’t been legislative action taken.”Rowden said that the fighting masked some successes, including the passage of wide-ranging education legislation.“The noise gets a lot of attention around here, and it probably will always be that way,” Rowden said. “But it isn’t the thing that at the end of the day defines this place. And it shouldn’t be the thing that motivates us. I make decisions not about not based on what people are going to say about those decisions on Twitter, but about what is in the best interest of the state and what’s in the best interest of this institution.”Brattin, though, said the session showed how ineffective Republican leadership can be — even when they have overwhelming supermajorities.“When you’re not doing what you said you were going to do when you are elected, people are going to be angry and mad at you for not doing what you said you were going to do,” Brattin said. “And that’s what the Republican Party has turned into: Feckless, spineless, ambassadors of nothing, and not fighting for what’s right.”
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, and Freedom Caucus member speaks on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
This session also marked a rare instance where Democrats, who have been outnumbered for years in both the House and Senate, played a major role in killing a major GOP priority. That came after Senate Democrats played a crucial role in passing the budget and the authorization of the FRA — and letting bills they oppose, like a ban on state funding for Planned Parenthood, go to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.But Rizzo said the ultimate failure to get a constitutional threshold ballot item to voters was less about growing Democratic influence in the General Assembly — and more about a rejection of what he called ‘bullying.’“I don’t think that this body wanted to give certain people in that chamber a win when they’re in the throes of session after the way they were treated all year. And I truly am proud of all the Democrats and Republicans that stood up to that, truthfully.”Rep. Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat who may succeed Quade as minority leader, added that the prospect of more Democrats could change how the legislature operates.“We’ve been left out of the room, but we proven time and time again, even with a supermajority of Republicans, that they still need us to pass priorities,” Aune said.See photos from the end of the 2024 Missouri Legislative Session by STLPR’s Brian Munoz below:
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri State Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles, reacts while talking to colleagues on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City. Schwadron is sporting first-place medals for winning the legislature’s annual trivia showdown.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri Rep. Kemp Strickler, D-Lee’s Summit, speaks with Rep. Emily Weber, D-Kansas City, on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMIssouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, looks over Majority Floor Leader Jon Patterson, R-Lees Summit, on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri Senate Majority Floor Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, reacts while speaking to Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri State Rep. Jeff Myers, R-Warrenton, launches a rubber chicken slingshot on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City. Republicans and Democrats took turns shooting rubber chickens across the floor in reference to a piece of legislation that bans Homeowner Association-led bans on chicken ownership.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioNaomi Groce, 2, presses a button held by Missouri State Sen. Rusty Black, R-St. Louis County, that makes his tie pig noises on Thursday during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMichele Shanahan DeMoss, of Peculiar, Mo., hugs Missouri State Rep. Yolanda Young, D-Kansas City, on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City. DeMoss’ daughter, Blair, was killed by celebratory gunfire in 2011.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri State Rep. Justin Hurlbert, R-Smithville, holds his 2-year-old daughter Rebekah on Friday during the waning hours of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri State Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, fans himself on Thursday, May 16, 2024, during the waning days of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMIssouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, wipes away tears while giving his farewell address on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioMissouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, wipes a tear away after giving her farewell address on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioThe Missouri House of Representatives votes on a piece of legislation on Friday during the last day of the legislative session in Jefferson City.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioThe sun sets on the Missouri State Capitol on Thursday in Jefferson City.
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