Wild video shows inmates rioting inside jail after frustrations over access boil over
Missouri officials have released video and a 100-page report documenting a February riot inside a local jail, where 34 inmates briefly took control of a housing unit and damaged property following phone and Wi-Fi connectivity issues.
Surveillance cameras captured the February 7 incident, which began when inmates at the St. Louis County Justice Center expressed anger over phone access, Wi-Fi connections, and their allocated time outside of their cells, while refusing to return to them, FOX 2 Now reported.
The incident began as a peaceful mass refusal of inmates to return to their cells before they became more physically disruptive, the report states. Officials directly blamed the unrest on severe staffing shortages.
"This incident shows how unpredictable conditions are inside a jail and how important the role corrections officers play," said Captain Tim Ware, acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services. "The discontent of residents that resulted in this incident is all due to our understaffing in corrections officers which required limitations on the residents' movements."
As corrections officers tried to de-escalate the situation, inmates barricaded the entrance of the housing unit with common area furniture.
"They tried to de-escalate with the residents and that was not working; the residents moved some furniture and barricaded the door," Ware said.
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At one point, an inmate used a basketball to knock down a mounted security camera. The inmates also broke televisions, a commissary kiosk, and parts of the ceiling, Spectrum News reported.
Total damages climbed past $30,800, according to St. Louis County records.
Authorities eventually deployed chemical agents to safely secure the area. Out of the 34 inmates involved, criminal charges for four "main actors" have been turned over to the Clayton Police Department and the county prosecutor for review, Ware noted.
In response to the incident, county leaders approved $3 million in emergency funding for medical services to better support the nearly 1,200 inmates housed in the facility.
In addition, officials are actively looking to fill approximately 80 correctional officer vacancies.
To prevent future disturbances, the jail is shifting its operational approach. "We have started extra training... tabletop exercises and physical exercises... so the officers will be prepared to make decisions when something similar happens," Ware said.
