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ST. LOUIS — The ӣ����Ƶ NAACP has joined the call for more transparency about the city jail’s procedures and operations after ongoing reports that people incarcerated at the City Justice Center are being abused, and deprived of showers and food.

The organization on Monday sent a letter to the director of the city's Department of Public Safety, which oversees the jail. The complaints echo what members of the city's own Detention Facilities Oversight Board, which oversees treatment of inmates and correctional officers, have been saying for months. 

The DFOB voted Monday to investigate the death of Carlton Bernard, who died after a medical emergency was reported at the jail on August 20. The city has said little about Bernard’s death. A 73-year-old guard was taken hostage by inmates while serving breakfast last week, held for several hours and treated for minor injuries. 

"The most recent incidents at the CJC are eroding public confidence in the justice system," said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the ӣ����Ƶ chapter of NAACP said in the letter, which was co-signed by Rev. Linden Bowie, president of the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri. 

"The solution to that has to be to fix the problem, not to put up impediments or not allow oversight," Pruitt later told the Post-Dispatch. "Those things are solutions to limit liability, but they don’t fix the problem."

The city's Director of Public Safety, Charles Coyle, disputed Pruitt's comments. "To suggest the DFOB has not been allowed to do their work is based on assumptions and is just not true," he said in a statement.

There were approximately 678 people at the jail as of Aug. 21, according to the public safety department. Most of them are awaiting a trial, and have not been convicted of a crime.

Pruitt said multiple officers have come forward about allegations of abuse in the city’s jail, but they are fearful for their jobs if they were to become whistleblowers. The city is fighting an ongoing federal lawsuit about officers' use of pepper spray in the jail. 

The Detention Facilities Oversight Board, and a similar board focused on police oversight, is part of the city's Division of Civilian Oversight, an office Mayor Tishaura O. Jones promoted to increase transparency between government and law enforcement with residents and the public. 

In May the board's commissioner resigned, fed up with the lack of transparency from the city. Board members then called on the jail’s commissioner to resign because they said she blocked their ability to visit the jail, and access to use-of-force reports.

Coyle said board members have not completed training sessions required under the city ordinance that created the oversight board — an interpretation DFOB members and other advocates have long refuted because the ordinance does not explicitly state exactly how many sessions must be completed or how long they should take.

During the Monday meeting, board members completed a training lasting about 15 minutes. Rev. Darryl Gray, the board chair, said all of the training would be completed in the next 30 to 45 days. 

The recent hostage situation is under criminal investigation and the oversight board doesn't have the authority to be involved, Coyle said. 

However, many board members and oversight advocates argued the board’s investigation would not interfere with the criminal investigation.

“How much training do you need to see that something isn’t right?” asked board vice chair Janis Mensah.