St. Louis County Jail

The St. Louis County Jail is located inside the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, Missouri at 100 South Central Avenue, about eight miles from downtown St. Louis. The holding capacity of the facility is 1,232 male and female inmates. The St. Louis County Jail is a direct-supervision facility that detains adults and juveniles being tried as adults who are awaiting trial or serving county sentences and is the only jail in Missouri that holds an accreditation know as the ALDF from the American Correctional Association (ACA). [http://www.stlouisco.com/justiceservices/jail.html Saint Louis County - Department of Justice Services - Jail ] ] Opened in March 1998, the center replaced both the jail in the 1949 St. Louis County Courthouse building and the Adult Correctional Building in Chesterfield, Missouri. [http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/plan/factbook2002/History.pdf ST ] ] The center was rededicated the “Buzz Westfall Justice Center” in 2004.

History

St. Louis City and St. Louis County separated in 1876 and left the county at its current size of 524 square miles. After Clayton, Missouri was chosen as the permanent county seat, a courthouse and jail were built in December 1878. By 1945, a bond issue allowed for the construction of a new courthouse and jail in Clayton facing Forsyth Boulevard that was completed in 1949.

A new state law allowed for jail facilities to be located outside of the county seat of Clayton. Because land costs in Clayton were considered prohibitive, the new Adult Correctional Institution was built in 1969 in Gumbo, a historical community which was located in present-day Chesterfield, Missouri approximately 15 miles to the west.

Continued jail overcrowding and deterioration of the remaining jail facilities in Chesterfield created pressure for new correctional facilities. In choosing a site for new facilities the costs and difficulties of continually transporting prisoners between jail facilities in far west County and court facilities in Clayton weighed in favor of a Clayton site for a new jail and expanded court facilities. The new Justice Center (which includes the St. Louis County Jail) opened in 1998 and is connected to the Courts Building by a secure skywalk, replacing both the jail in the 1949 Courthouse building and the Adult Correctional Building in Chesterfield. The justice center was rededicated the “Buzz Westfall Justice Center” in 2004. George “Buzz” Westfall was the St. Louis County Executive from 1990 to October 2003 when he died after developing a staph infection.

Physical Description of Jail

The Jail has a total of 960 cells, with a capacity for 1,232 inmates. The Justice Center has fourteen levels, though some of those floors serve the jail administration, Prosecutors office, Public Defenders office, County Police Fingerprint Unit, Fugitive section and some Public Works offices. Each floor that houses inmates has a capacity of 256 inmates. Furthermore, each floor of the jail is divided into four units with 48 cells in each unit. The cells in St. Louis County Jail do not have bars.

Direct Supervision

The St. Louis County Jail uses a direct-supervision management philosophy in the main inmate housing areas. This style, unlike the traditional linear jail style, places correction officers directly within the inmate living units and provides the officers with immediate visual observation and continual interaction with the inmates.

Jail Visitation Policy

The visitation policy for the St. Louis County Jail at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center are as follows:

Inmates are allowed up to two visits within any continuous seven-day period and no more than one visit per day. Visiting hours run from 9:00 am through 9:00 pm Monday through Sunday. Visiting periods are forty minutes long and begin promptly on the hour.

Inmate Programs

Some programs and courses that the jail offers to inmates include anger management, art therapy, Beat the Streets, Breaking Barriers, building healthy relationships, Choices, Commitment to Change, Domestic Violence, drug and alcohol education, HIV/AIDS awareness, life skills, parenting, seeking safety, stress management, and Success Stories. [http://www.stlouisco.com/justiceservices/justicebrochure.pdf]

General Statistics and Facts

* Total of 960 cells
* Holding Capacity is 1,232 inmates
* Capacity per floor is 256 inmates
* Average Age of both admitted males and females is 32
* Average Daily population is 1,068
* Average of 31,560 arrestees per year
* Cells do not have bars
* Each housing floor has four units with 48 cells to each unit
* The Justice Center has 14 levels (Floors four through eight are two story each but internally counted as one)
* Approximately 1.4 millions meals are prepared each year for inmates by food service staff

High Profile Inmates Processed

*Michael Devlin booked in October 2007, made national headlines for kidnappings.
*Sherman Burnett Jr., certified to stand trial as an adult, booked in January 2006, is the youngest inmate ever admitted in the adult facility at age 13.
*Gary Kaplan, federally held inmate booked in 2007 exact date unknown, made international headlines as ring leader for BetonSports.com

References

External links

* [http://www.stlouisco.com/justiceservices St. Louis County - Department of Justice Services]
* [http://www.aca.org/ American Correctional Association]