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City Justice Center’s Staggering Staff Vacancy Rate Causes Big Problems | St. Louis

Published

10 months ago

December 11, 2023

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Activists hung a banner across from City Hall in September 2023.

Last month, St. Louis officials announced that in the wake of a rash of deaths at the City Justice Center, they were changing healthcare providers.

“Ensuring the health and wellness of individuals detained at the City Justice Center remains a top priority,” the mayor’s office said on November 30, announcing that as of the next day, the nonprofit Physician Correctional USA would handle healthcare at the jail.

But someone who worked at the jail tells the RFT that many issues with healthcare for detainees were less about the previous provider, YesCare, and more about a bigger problem at the jail: chronic understaffing.

That’s because detainees who wanted to see a doctor or a nurse practitioner needed to be escorted to the medical unit on the second floor by a corrections officer, and often no corrections officers were available to do so.

The former staffer says the shortage of corrections officers curtailed “anything when detainees had to get out of the cell,” including physical exams and dental work, which required detainees to have access to a dentist’s chair. The former staffer asked the RFT to not use their name for fear of harming future job prospects.

The number of empty positions at the jail bolster the former employee’s claim. Data compiled by the city’s Department of Personnel for a recent Board of Aldermen committee meeting shows that Corrections is authorized to have 307 positions, but that 183 of those spots are unfilled — meaning that the agency’s vacancy rate would stand at around 60 percent, if those numbers are accurate.

However, it is notable that the numbers from Personnel don’t include any position categories in the jail that are 100 percent filled. It’s unclear why that data was omitted and presumably if it had been included it would lower the percentage of overall vacancies.

We reached out to the Department of Public Safety for comment and will update the story when we hear back.

The entity best positioned to know the specific number of jail staff is keeping that number close to their vest. Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah has remained mum on the extent of those shortages, citing security concerns. In a sit-down interview last month with KSDK, reporter Christine Byers asked if the jail was still down about 30 to 50 officers, the number of vacancies Clemons-Abudullah inherited when she took on her role.

Clemons-Abdullah responded: “Well, I suppose it’s a little bit more than that.”

That seems to have been an understatement.

Earlier this month, Alderwoman Cara Spencer asked the city’s Director of Department of Personnel Sonya Gray to speak at a Budget and Public Employee subcommittee meeting about vacancies among all city agencies. Gray produced a report that showed that the City Justice Center’s 183 vacancies were the highest of any department other than the police.

“I’m really concerned about this high level of vacancies, especially in light of ongoing tragedies at the Justice Center,” Spencer tells the RFT. “And I’ve asked Gray to verify those numbers.”

Most notably, the numbers show there are 126 vacant “Corrections Officer I” positions of the 198 that the jail is authorized for. The vacancy rate at the “Corrections Officer II” position was significantly better, with only eight vacant positions out of the 28 authorized.

The former staffer who spoke to the RFT says that the staffing situation seemed to get noticeably worse after the hostage incident at the jail in August, which proved to be the first of a series of bad headlines for the jail. The staffer says that employees seemed to be leaving more quickly and were not getting replaced.

Given concerns about drug overdoses at the jail, the former staffer was also surprised to often see no one staffing a first-floor checkpoint, the second of two such checkpoints that all employees must pass through before going anywhere in the facility above the first floor.

The former staffer says the checkpoint tended to be staffed at the beginning and end of the day shift. “But there was often no one to staff it in the middle of the day,” they said. “People could leave for lunch and come back with whatever.”

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

4 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

4 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

5 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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