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ST. LOUIS — Aldermen are planning to haul city public safety officials in for another hearing Wednesday to dig into the problems at the downtown jail. They’ll have quite the list.

At least 10 people have died in the jail’s custody over the past two years. Acute staffing shortages are getting worse. And there have been rising concerns from advocates and attorneys that inmates are being held without access to showers, hot food and other basic necessities.

Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of Downtown, said Tuesday that too often the board has been in the dark about what’s going wrong at the City Justice Center, across South Tucker Boulevard from City Hall, and what’s being done about it.

“If we don’t know,� he said, “it’s hard to know how to help.�

The inquiries Wednesday will follow a rough few months for a jail in the midst of a rough few years.

Three detainees died in just six weeks in August and September, including Carlton Bernard, whose death an autopsy blamed on dehydration and a lack of insulin, raising concerns about how the city is providing health care in the jail.

In that same time period, inmates took a corrections officer hostage for several hours before police intervened. Prosecutors later charged six men in an assault: They said one man punched the guard in the head; others unlocked cells and smashed televisions, which inmates used to make weapons.

Then late last month, aldermen got data from the city’s personnel department indicating that the number of front-line jail guards had dipped below 100 — out of 226 budgeted positions — leaving nearly 60% of the jobs unfilled and raising new concerns about the jail’s ability to attend to detainees’ needs and threats. The city employed more than 200 front-line guards as recently as early 2021, according to budget documents.

And last week, officials reported that another detainee had died from an apparent suicide.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ administration has responded to concerns with plans to have the city health department audit contracted health care services at the jail, to hire a chief medical officer to oversee the operation, and to get more mental health care providers in the facility.

Late last month, the administration said it had hired a new private health care provider.

And on Tuesday, Jones spokesman Nick Dunne said the city has also been working to shore up staffing by increasing starting pay for correctional officers and offering a $3,500 hiring bonus.

But Alderman Bret Narayan, the chair of the board’s public safety committee, said he’s still being asked questions he can’t answer.

And he said he plans to use the hearing he called to dig into reports of .

“I’d like to know what’s being done on that,� he said.

The city previously employed the controversial prison health care giant Corizon Health Inc., in part to weather a mountain of lawsuits from prisoners across the country alleging bungled care.

Narayan said he wants to hear more about the city’s new health care provider, Florida-based Physician Correctional USA.

“I’d like to see what they’re doing differently,� said Narayan, whose ward includes Dogtown and Lindenwood Park.

Aldridge said he wants to hear more about the hiring efforts, and the death investigations.

“It’s going to keep happening unless we put in true policy changes to make things safer,� he said.

Aldridge wants public officials to be able to visit the jail unannounced.

“I’m a big believer that if you give them a heads-up that gives them time to clean up things,� he said.