ST. LOUIS — The city’s corrections commissioner, who has overseen years of controversy at the downtown jail, is now on leave. And it’s not clear when she’ll be back.
City spokespersons confirmed that Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah went on leave last Thursday, and said a deputy, Tammy Ross, is serving as Acting Commissioner.
But they would not say why she was on leave, or when she would return, citing rules that shield many personnel records from public view.
The uncertainty is only the latest issue for an institution that has been in near-constant crisis in recent years.
Since 2021, the City Justice Center, which sits across the street from City Hall downtown, has been buffeted by riots, hostage-taking, and more than a dozen detainee deaths.
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Detainees and their family members have complained of dismal health care services. Attorneys have complained of trouble getting access to clients.
The city has made efforts to improve conditions. It hired a new contract health care provider and budgeted $2 million for new city health department positions overseeing care.
Officials also commissioned millions of dollars in upgrades and repairs at the downtown jail, including replacements for faulty cell locks that enabled at least some of the rioting.
And Clemons-Abdullah, who Mayor Tishaura O. Jones appointed in late summer 2021, defended her record at an aldermanic budget hearing earlier this year.
She said she was working with a severe shortage of correctional officers that had been difficult to overcome.
“Nobody grows up and says, ‘I want to go to work in a jail,’” she said, adding that the bad headlines hadn’t helped things.
She also pushed back on criticism that placed blame for the deaths on her and her staff.
“It’s not as though the deaths were caused by negligence,” she said. “We’re in a city. We’re not like a country town. And when I say ‘in the city,’ you have an opportunity to get into a lot of things. When you get into the facility, a lot of times people are addicted to drugs.”
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who has been calling for Clemons-Abdullah’s ouster for more than a year now, said he hoped the news would mark a turning point.
“I hope it’s the start of a slow change,” he said. “I would love to see that at the jail.”
Rev. Darryl Gray addressed how members of the ӣƵ Detention Facilities Oversight Board were having difficulty addressing complaints in the jail because access was restricted while at a press conference on Nov. 28, 2023. Video by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
