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ST. LOUIS — A federal judge set a 2024 trial date for a class-action lawsuit alleging mistreatment and abuse of detainees at the city’s downtown jail.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday set the trial to start April 15.

The lead plaintiff in the suit, filed in 2021, is Derrick Jones. He’s represented by the MacArthur Justice Center and ArchCity Defenders, which have successfully sued a number of other municipalities for civil rights violations.

Jones testified that he was beaten by officers at the City Justice Center, left in a cell to “marinate” and deprived of water. More than 50 other former and current detainees have also submitted testimony about jail staff withholding water for hours or days and using mace to intimidate and inflict pain on detainees restrained, confined in a cell or resistant, some of whom had special needs.

The city has maintained that the use of mace was not improper.

Meanwhile, inmate deaths and violence at the downtown jail have continued to make headlines this year.

And members of the city’s civilian jail oversight group, the Detention Facilities Oversight Board, maintain city leaders are obstructing work to investigate the incidents.