This story was updated at 5:05 p.m.
ST. LOUIS — A city board on Thursday approved a new request by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones to add 11 health department employees to strengthen medical care at the city jail downtown.
The action by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the city’s top fiscal body, follows several deaths of inmates in recent years — including three since Aug. 20.
Jones on Monday had announced plans to hire a chief medical officer and an unspecified number of other health department workers that would be assigned to the jail. On Thursday, some details were submitted to the estimate board.
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“This is a fulfillment of Mayor Jones’ call earlier this week to fortify health care (at the jail) with additional investment,” mayoral spokesman Nick Dunne said after the brief teleconference meeting.
The new employees, he said, would work with a yet-to-be-selected private medical care company at the jail, which is called the Justice Center. They will work with the firm to audit and provide oversight, he said.
Dunne added that the overall cost of medical care at the jail under the new system “may not be far from what the city already is allocating” but that the price tag has yet to be determined.
The city budget for the fiscal year ending next June calls for spending $8.8 million on prisoner medical care.
The estimate board agreed to create the new health department positions by transferring $2 million that had been assigned for corrections department positions that are unfilled.
In addition to a chief medical officer, the list of new jail-related health workers to be hired includes a physician, four nurse practitioners, a mental health manager, a nursing supervisor and three others.
Jones previously had announced that the city won’t renew its contract with the jail’s medical provider, Corizon. The city has sought proposals from other companies.
The estimate board — made up of Jones, Comptroller Darlene Green and Aldermanic President Megan Green — did not discuss the mayor’s plans for added health workers before approving the move on a voice vote. It does not require approval of the Board of Aldermen.
The deaths of city jail detainees over the past two years has been among the reasons for criticism of Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah by the jail’s civilian oversight board and others.
Jones has defended Clemons-Abdullah, saying she has worked to make the jail safer and improve meals and educational programming.
The mayor has said she also is deeply troubled by the inmate deaths and that providing responsive health care at the jail is a top priority.
In her announcement Monday regarding the plan to add health workers, she also said city officials are talking with the state and other partners to quickly address issues with detainees deemed incompetent to stand trial.
She also said the city is working to get more mental health care providers in the facility.