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ST. LOUIS — State auditors say the city’s jail commissioner appears to have misused federal law to block oversight of her department.

In a report released Thursday afternoon, auditors wrote that the city’s citizen-led jail oversight board, formed in 2022 to monitor conditions at the downtown jail in the wake of a disruptive riot, had yet to fully investigate any of the 74 inmate complaints it has received as of this spring.

Unclear training requirements and policies kept board members from entering the jail until late 2023, after a and a hostage situation renewed attention on the jail and prompted the Board of Aldermen to sharpen the rules.

And even then, as late as April, board members and the investigators they oversee had still only been able to speak with one detainee, which auditors blamed on the city’s interpretation of a federal law as requiring internal investigations to be completed before any outside probe can commence.

“However,” the auditors wrote, “a review of the federal code the Commissioner cited as the reasoning for this does not appear to require any such process.”

The auditors also took issue with city lawyers directing the oversight board to halt one investigation in part because the probe could open the city up to a lawsuit.

“Nothing in ordinance appears to allow an investigation to be stayed due to the possibility of litigation,” the auditors wrote.

The report marks the latest criticism of the administration’s handling of jail oversight.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones was elected on promises to clean up the city’s jail system after years of complaints of inhumane conditions and treatment of detainees at the Workhouse, on the north riverfront, and disturbing riots at a downtown City Justice Center with broken locks. She has closed the workhouse, overseen expensive security fixes to prevent future riots downtown, and creating the oversight board to hear complaints of misconduct and make recommendations on how to improve things.

But Jones and Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah have repeatedly clashed with the board over access to the jail amid concerns about detainee deaths and complaints of slow medical responses. And some activists have taken that as opposition to further reform.

The Rev. Darryl Gray, the chair of the oversight board, said the report was vindication. He said the board is still struggling to get the access it needs to do its job.

“Everything that we have said the auditor has substantiated,” he said. “It is our hope now that the city and the commissioner will cease and desist on obstructing our staff from investigating cases.”

State Sen. Steve Roberts, a Jones critic who requested the state investigation late last year, blasted the administration after reading the report.

“The mayor and the director are violating the fundamental rights of detainees, putting city employees in danger, and denying taxpayers transparency and oversight regarding the jail’s operations,” he said.

Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for Jones, offered no opinion on the legal finding. But he noted the mayor recently appointed two new members to the board, and the office is working to ensure the board can do its job while abiding by city law.

Kerrigan also said the city is working to address other issues identified in the report, like the shortage of correctional officers at the jail, and issues with health care.

Late last year, the administration hired a new provider and budgeted $2 million for new city health department positions overseeing care.

It also increased starting salaries for entry-level correctional officers to $46,000 per year from $34,000.