ST. LOUIS — A civilian oversight board created to keep an eye on the city’s jail says the corrections commissioner is blocking full access to the detention center, records, staff and inmates they’re supposed to monitor.
City emails show that requests from the Detention Facility Review Board to review jail use-of-force reports were met with an effort by Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah to circumvent the state’s public records Sunshine Law and keep the documents secret.
“The daily reports will include the City Counselor Office to ensure the information that is being shared is at the best interest of the City and not sunshine-able as it will be ‘attorney-client privilege,’†she wrote in a Jan. 23 email to Matthew Brummund, head of the city’s Division of Civilian Oversight, under which the review board operates.
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Clemons-Abdullah followed four minutes later with a second email saying she would release the reports if the city counselor approved it. No one from the city, including Brummund or Clemons-Abdullah, would comment on the status of the records request or board members’ specific concerns.
Government transparency attorney Mark Pedroli called the first email a “smoking gun†and said many city governments, not just ºüÀêÊÓƵ, try to email city counselors in order to avoid public scrutiny.
And while some specific law enforcement and personnel records may not be public, “just because you CC the city counselor person wouldn’t make it non-disclosable,†said Jean Maneke, an attorney with the Missouri Press Association and Sunshine Law expert.
“If somebody CCs the city counselor person and says ‘We’re having an office party and you might need to know’ — that’s not going to close a record,†Maneke said.
This isn’t the only controversy over access to use-of-force reports, which the city released monthly until late 2021, the Post-Dispatch reported in January. ºüÀêÊÓƵ faces a it did not maintain any monthly use-of-force reports for 2022, and that the city regularly destroys videos of use-of-force incidents.
The Detention Facility Review Board was signed into law in August as a response to the deaths of at least six people in the city’s jail last year. Days later, police unions sued the city and mayor to halt the jail board and the similar civilian police oversight board. The police board remains on hold, but the jail board is allowed to meet and investigate.
Clemons-Abdullah has recently questioned the suitability of two current members, Barbara Baker and Mike Milton, to sit on the board because of their work with criminal justice nonprofits that serve the jail’s population.
In a November email to Brummund, Clemons-Abdullah cited a that doesn’t allow anyone “who conducts business in the corrections field†to hold a board position. Others on the nine-member board include a former paralegal in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Attorney’s Office, the city’s former health director, activists, and some in the legal field.
“The same qualifications that put me on this board are the same reasons they want me out — isn’t that something?†said Baker. She and Milton were appointed by ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Tishaura Jones.
The board’s rules state the only way to remove a member is by a vote. The city counselor has not issued a public opinion on Baker and Milton’s eligibility.
“We are looking into possible legislative solutions to clarify any outstanding questions about qualifications,†said Nick Desideri, the mayor’s communications director.
The oversight board was billed as a way to build public trust in the jails, but members are concerned they’re not getting a full picture of what is happening inside the detention center.
About half of the board members have toured the jail, and at a January meeting some called the tour superficial because they weren’t able to access the housing unit or talk with inmates, which they argue is a crucial part of their job.
One board member, Thomas Lawson, called the tour “fluff†and a “waste of time.†He said he’s previously toured jails in St. Charles, Jefferson City and Potosi and spoken with inmates.
But at the City Justice Center, board members were “told nothing, they saw nothing, they did nothing,†he said.