This past Independence Day, 150 St. Louisans gathered downtown to protest on behalf of those who couldn't—inmates at the St. Louis Medium Security Institution, a jail more commonly known as the "Workhouse." Over the past two summers, these protests have become annual occurrences. In 2017, for instance, reported triple-digit temperatures inside the jail ignited the protests. Even though the city responded by installing temporary air conditioning units, rodent and insect infestations, pervasive mold, broken toilets, guard-perpetrated violence, and medical negligence still plague Workhouse inmates.
Across the country, jails are, all too often, used as holding pens for people who can't afford to pay bail. The Workhouse in St. Louis is no exception to this phenomenon. In July of 2017, almost all of the 836 inmates were awaiting trial, with only a handful having actually been convicted. Given that, historically, criminal justice reform has only rarely come from the city's prosecuting attorney, community members have taken matters into their own hands. These local-led efforts are part of a gradual reform movement—one that, on closer inspection, reveals the enduring importance of local organizing not only in St. Louis, but across the entire country.
The St. Louis community, as a whole, is affected by the facility and the systemic injustices that regularly lead inmates to the jail. Enter Close the Workhouse, a grassroots campaign dedicated to permanently closing the jail—without opening a new one in its place. The movement is the product of collaboration between a number of St. Louis' legal and activist organizations. This includes Arch City Defenders, a non-profit law firm specializing in defending marginalized people from the local criminal justice system; Missourians Organizing for Freedom and Empowerment, an economic justice and community-organizing group; and the Saint Louis Action Council, a black-led group seeking social and political reform. The Bail Project, a national bail fund, also joined forces with these groups to try to close the Workhouse.
[For more on this story by DANIELLE ZIEGELHEIM, go to https://psmag.com/social-justi...minal-justice-reform]
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