ST. LOUIS — One day after news outlets published photos of a downtown ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ jail inmate’s injuries, the city’s top public defender said attorneys were told they could no longer bring their phones into the facility during client visits.
The Post-Dispatch and Riverfront Times on Thursday published photos, taken by an attorney, of 31-year-old Kevin O’Shaughnessy with a cantaloupe-sized hernia on his hip. O’Shaughnessy’s attorney had asked a judge to release his client from jail, citing neglect that activists and attorneys have claimed is commonplace at the embattled facility.
Then, on Friday, at least three attorneys in the public defender’s office were told they would no longer be allowed to bring phones into visits as they had for years.
But Monte Chambers, spokesperson for the city’s public safety department, said nothing had changed.
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“The Department of Corrections has a strict, long-standing policy for all visitors to adhere to regarding the usage of cellular phones and recording devices,†Chambers said. “This is not a new policy; it is an existing policy.â€
On Friday evening, though, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ District Defender Matthew Mahaffey shared a photo that contradicted Chambers’ claim that the policy was not new: A notice posted at the jail Friday and signed by Jail Commissioner Jennifer Clemmons-Abdullah notified visitors that beginning Jan. 15, “no cellular devices or any type of recording/photography devices will be allowed inside the facility. All previous authorizations for cellular devices are no longer being authorized.â€
Until that notice, defense attorneys could bring their phones and computers into the facility as long as they signed an authorization form agreeing not to take photos or record inside the jail. Attorneys needed their phones for many reasons, Mahaffey said, including to access case records and contact guards to let them out of the facility when it is locked during after-hours visits.
Chambers, the public safety spokesperson, clarified later Friday that the policy had been “adapted†in response to contraband cell phones being found at the jail in recent weeks.
The phone debate is just the latest controversy at the City Justice Center.
Since mid-August, at least four people have died at the facility. Inmates took a corrections officer hostage for several hours before police intervened. Acute staffing shortages are worsening, and lawyers and community members have complained that prisoners are being held on lockdown for hours and not given access to showers, hot food and other basic necessities.
“If anyone wonders how so many people can die in that jail in such a short period of time, the answer should be obvious,†Mahaffey said in a message to the Post-Dispatch. “And the jail’s response is to fight transparency to the utmost degree, blame the victims and the deceased and bar attorneys from bringing communications devices in during visits.â€
O’Shaughnessy was shot multiple times by police in April and charged after police said he pointed a gun at officers, set his house on fire and threatened others while having “mental issues.†He was left partially paralyzed with a traumatic brain injury, court documents say.
On Thursday, his sister said O’Shaughnessy has been left without a wheelchair, has not been given regular access to clean clothes or a shower and developed a hernia that went unaddressed for months.
A judge denied the request by O’Shaughnessy’s lawyer to lower his client’s bond and instead ordered he be sent to a hospital for further medical evaluation.
Mahaffey said O’Shaughnessy is fortunate to have family members with a medical background willing to advocate for his needs. Still, he said, many people at the jail are living through the same situation without any way to speak up.
“We need to stop listening to the jail administration’s words and start evaluating their actions and inactions,†he said. “We need to stop listening to the politicians that blindly support them. And we need to stop being OK with innocent until proven guilty people suffering and dying in the custody of the state.â€
But the public safety department director, Charles Coyle, brushed off much of the criticism about the facility during a news conference last month. He said that jail commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah had done work to improve the jail, including allocating millions of dollars in renovations to fix broken cell locks and ramping up security to keep drugs out.
Monte Chambers, a public safety department spokesman, noted Thursday that the city hired a new health care provider a few months ago, launched an audit of medical care and was working to hire a chief medical officer.
“The Corrections Division remains committed to ensuring the health of detainees remains a priority as we continue to improve service,†he said.
