User:Kurt281/2021 St. Louis Jail Riot

2021 St. Louis Jail Riot was a jail riot that occurred on February 6 2021 at the St. Louis Justice Center and Jail.

Background
For years, many locks in the jail were either broken or severely worn down due to years of usage. Due to a lack of proper funding, the jail continued to see no major repairs or renovations.

Inmates at the St. Louis Justice Center were under lockdown for months following the spike in COVID-19 cases in the Greater St. Louis area. Several inmates had caught covid-19 due to a inmate being put in with general population, despite testing positive. Around February 2021, St. Louis was in the midst of a record breaking cold front which made the temperatures inside the jail well below normal. The jail lockdown forced the jail to feed the inmates, cold or frozen foods in bags rather than freshly prepared food.

A backlog in criminal cases resulted in the jail being overpopulated for years, culminating in a court order in 2019 to not incarcerate inmates who cannot afford bail. Despite these measures, the jail still had many inmates who were incarcerated for up to 5 years awaiting trial.

Riot
On February 6, 2021, dozens of inmates broke out of their locked door to their dorm and started breaking windows and lighting fires. A prison guard opened several segregated housing units to allow inmates to beat up other inmates held inside. The riot lasted over 4 hours before being taken down by Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department and Special response units.

Second Riot
Just two months later, a second riot occurred on April 4, 2021. Around 10 pm, inmates broke windows in their cells and threw papers and furniture on the street. Fires were lit inside the cells. At least 40 inmates participated in the riot. Within a hour, Prison SWAT units were called in and successfully dispersed the riot. A crowd of protesters appeared across the street from the riot to protest the living conditions.

Aftermath
The riot resulted in several injuries and hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to the jail. Many inmates who participated in the riot were taken to other jails and prisons across Missouri. A task force was created by St. Louis to determine the reasons of the riot and what changes need to be implemented to prevent another riot. Several public defender and legal advocacy groups demanded a tour of St. Louis Justice Center Jail.

St. Louis City Attorney, insert name here, claimed the allegations of cruel and inhumane treatment in the jail were over-exaggerations or lies.