St. Louis Workhouse

St. Louis Medium Security Institution, commonly referred to as The St. Louis Workhouse is a medium security penitentiary in the city of St. Louis, Missouri that has been the center of many controversies regarding mass incarceration, debt bondage, and human rights within the United States.[1]

St. Louis Medium Security Institution
Location7600 Hall St, St Louis, Missouri
StatusOperational
Security classMedium
Capacity1,138
Population541 (as of 31 July 2019)
Opened1966
Managed byPublic Safety Department - City of St. Louis
DirectorJeffrey Carson

History

The structure was built in 1966 and gained its nickname of "The Workhouse" from an 1848 city ordinance that established the local laws for the imprisonment of debtors that permitted the forced labor of inmates to pay a debt.[2]

Controversy

The St Louis Workhouse has been subject to numerous controversies regarding living conditions of prisoners, abuse of incarcerated, and the use of penal labor. The organization ArchCity Defenders filed a class action lawsuit against the facilities describing the living conditions as inhumane.[3]

The lawsuit alleged that the civil rights of detainees within the facility had been violated due to the poor sanitation, limited ventilation, and poor medical care.[4]A significant issue regarded the temperatures within the unconditioned workhouse during the summer months which was alleged to have exceeded 120 degrees. In response to the controversy the city of Saint Louis spent 40,000 dollars to provide temporary portable air conditioning for the prison. [5][6] [7][8]

Demonstrations

[9][10][11] On Independence Day 2018, the group Close the Workhouse held demonstrations outside city hall in opposition to the inhumane conditions of the prison.[12]

See also
  • Ferguson unrest: 2014 unrest caused by the shooting of an unarmed black male by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

References
  1. Bouscaren, Durrie. "What's the Workhouse? Here's what you need to know about St. Louis' Medium Security Institution". news.stlpublicradio.org. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  2. Wicentowski, Danny. "'This Place Is Hell': An Undercover Trip Inside St. Louis' Workhouse". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  3. York, Clark Randall Jamiles Lartey in New (24 September 2018). "'A hopeless place': St Louis workhouse denounced as a modern-day debtors' prison". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  4. Staff, KMOV com. "Lawsuit cites inhumane conditions in St. Louis 'workhouse'". KMOV.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. "Inside the St. Louis 'Workhouse'". KMOV.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  6. "Voices From the Sweltering Inside". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  7. "ACLU blasts conditions in city jail, workhouse". news.stlpublicradio.org. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  8. Lisenby, Ashley. "Inside the Workhouse: Conditions, treatment and time served remain under scrutiny". news.stlpublicradio.org. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  9. Branigin, Anne. "For Decades, This St. Louis Jail Held Hundreds of Impoverished Black People. Activists Are Working to Shut It Down". The Root. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  10. Hidalgo, Carolina. "Activists launch campaign to close the Workhouse, reduce St. Louis jail population". news.stlpublicradio.org. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  11. American, Jessica Bassett Of the St Louis. "ACLU releases scathing report on abuses in City jails". St. Louis American. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  12. "Activists push for closure of Workhouse". FOX2now.com. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
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