CLAYTON 鈥 A top 狐狸视频 County jail supervisor asked guards in early November to sign a form agreeing to work alone watching dozens of inmates, a violation of jail policy that may have led to an attack on an officer just weeks later.
Superintendent Tena Johnson sent the form to managers on Nov. 3. Managers began sharing it with corrections officers that week. But jail policy requires two officers on duty per housing unit.
鈥淭hat other senior administrators failed to follow this policy is disappointing,鈥 Jeff Smith, chairman of the 狐狸视频 County Justice Services Advisory Board, said Thursday. 鈥淭hat they actively undermined it is disturbing and, frankly, inexplicable.鈥
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County officials said they are now considering disciplinary action against jail staff. Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.
The county instituted the two-officer policy following a brutal inmate assault on a guard in the fall of 2021. But jail staff told the Post-Dispatch after the recent attack that the policy hadn鈥檛 been followed for months because of staffing shortages. The jail employs 159 corrections officers, down from 194 in 2019.
Johnson sent the form to managers when her boss, jail Director Scott Anders, was on vacation, Anders said. Emails obtained by the Post-Dispatch flesh out the timeline.
Johnson, who has worked at the jail since 1987, emailed the document, titled 鈥渋nformed consent letter,鈥 to a group of supervisors on Nov. 3.
The form included a signature line where guards could affirm they were capable of working 鈥渁s a single officer鈥 in one of the jail鈥檚 housing units 鈥 a block of cells that can house up to 72 inmates.
A jail supervisor, Maj. Jerry Kramer, emailed Johnson for clarification on the rules.
Once officers signed, Johnson responded, they would have to work alone unless a supervisor approved a partner.
鈥淚f they ask for any reason every now and then to have a partner, it won鈥檛 void the paperwork, but it will be at the discretion of the supervisor,鈥 Johnson wrote.
Five days later, on Nov. 9, Lt. Annabella Arthur replied to Johnson: Officers didn鈥檛 want to sign the form, she said.
鈥淚 have several officers that said they will work, but they will not sign the form,鈥 Arthur said.
鈥淭hen they should be assigned a partner,鈥 Johnson responded.
Later that day, Kramer asked Johnson if she planned to do anything else to the form or if they should start having officers 鈥渟ign the paperwork if they want to?鈥
Within 10 minutes, Johnson responded to the entire group of supervisors, asking them to 鈥渉old back for now on using it.鈥
鈥淚 need to get Director approval,鈥 Johnson wrote.
The form had already circulated for nearly a week by that point.
On Nov. 23, a guard was supervising dozens of maximum security inmates alone when one attacked her.
The inmate was horse-playing and talking loudly, a county spokesman said. The guard asked him to move to a different room. The inmate first complied, then came back into the room yelling, pushed the guard and punched her three times in the face.
Other inmates rushed to the guard鈥檚 defense and subdued the man until officers arrived, jailhouse video shows. But the attack left the guard with a bloody nose and mouth, a swollen face and multiple bruises.
The next day, a whistleblower told the jail director about the form, according to Anders, and the county launched an investigation into why the officer was on duty alone.
鈥淭he signature process was stopped after the whistleblower expressed concern to a supervisor circulating the form and said that I should know about what was going on,鈥 Anders wrote in an email to the Post-Dispatch.
Anders reassigned the person in charge of scheduling and began requiring watch commanders to list the names of officers working in housing units in their daily reports. The director also began dropping in at random times on weekends, nights and holidays.
All staff are now following the policy, Anders said.
Anders confirmed that the county was investigating staff actions 鈥 and that they could lead to discipline 鈥 but declined to say more, citing personnel rules.
The inmate who attacked the jail guard in November 鈥 Bobby Booker, 31 鈥 was in jail on charges of robbery, armed criminal action and weapons offenses.
Booker was charged in December with third-degree assault on the guard, a felony.
The case is ongoing.