St. Louis has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that inmates at a former medium-security jail were housed in “inhumane conditions” that included rodent feces in food, infestations of bugs and snakes, and unbearable overcrowding.
The nonprofit ArchCity Defenders announced the settlement on Tuesday as it filed a motion in federal court seeking authorization to begin notifying people who were incarcerated at the St. Louis Medium Security Institution that they could be eligible for damages.
Demolition of the troubled jail, known as the Workhouse, began earlier this year. Around 16,000 people jailed there for five or more days from November 2012 through June 2022, when it closed, may be eligible to file a claim if the settlement is approved.
The agreement, signed April 10, said that the city denied any wrongdoing or liability.
Mayor Cara Spencer, who was sworn into office five days after the agreement was reached, declined to elaborate during a news conference Tuesday. “I can’t really speak to those decisions before I was sworn into office,” she said.
All seven of the original plaintiffs who sued in 2017 are Black, as were the vast majority of inmates at the jail, although just over half of St. Louis’ residents are Black. Virtually all of the people jailed there were awaiting trial because they couldn’t afford bail, mostly for non-violent crimes.
“It was a horrible place,” said one of the plaintiffs, Jasmine Borden, in a written statement. “They treat dogs at the shelter better than they treated us. It’s nice to be compensated with the settlement, but I can’t get back any of the time that I was dealing with being locked up and being away from my kids in that unsuitable environment.”
Another of the plaintiffs, James Cody, also said dogs were treated better during a news conference when the lawsuit was first filed.
Cody, who was jailed for eight months on a probation violation, said he often found mouse feces in cake served at the jail. Jail staff would simply scrape them off, he said.
Cody said he was housed in a dorm with 69 other men, all sharing a single working toilet, sink and shower. He recalled the heat of summer, when temperatures inside the jail reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit (51.67 degrees Celsius), according to the lawsuit. The hot conditions led to protests that resulted in city officials temporarily bringing in portable air conditioners.
“This jail came to be such an infamous symbol of injustice and inhumane treatment in St. Louis, a symbol of racism, a symbol of the way in which we target poor people in our criminal legal system,” said Blake Strode, ArchCity Defenders’ executive director, in a phone interview.
“So many generations were harmed by it. And so, I think the fact that we are here in 2025 with the jail empty, partially demolished, fully defunded, and now you have thousands of people who are actually going to receive some recovery for the horrific conditions that they endured in the jail. I think that’s a huge accomplishment.”
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