51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� In late summer of 2023, Janis Mensah went to the City Justice Center to seek answers.

At the time, Mensah was co-chair of the city鈥檚 Detention Facilities Oversight Board. That鈥檚 the citizen group established by aldermen to keep an eye on jail operations. Mensah was appointed to the board by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.

On the day Mensah went to the jail, the board had received a tip that somebody died in the facility. Mensah wanted to speak to Jail Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah and get information. The oversight board and Clemons-Abdullah were already at odds because she wasn鈥檛 sharing details of what was happening at the facility.

When Mensah showed up, Clemons-Abdullah refused to meet. Mensah refused to leave. Mensah was arrested and charged with trespassing.

Fast forward to Jan. 27, 2025. That鈥檚 the day Jones released a report by former 51黑料 County Jail Director Doug Burris that is highly critical of city jail operations. The mayor was slow to recognize the failures of Clemons-Abdullah, who was finally removed as jail commissioner in December. Now, the mayor was explicitly recognizing what Mensah and other critics had been saying: the jail that has suffered through a dozen detainee deaths in the past few years needs a lot of help.

So Burris, also the former head of the federal probation office in the region, is now coming out of retirement to fix a troubled jail, just as he did with the county.

The city鈥檚 facility, he says, is understaffed and overcrowded. Like most jails in Missouri, it has too many detainees who need mental health treatment. The jail needs to be more transparent and work better with its partners, Burris said in his report.

All of that is good, says Maureen Hanlon, an attorney with the nonprofit social justice law firm . Hanlon is involved in multiple lawsuits over conditions at the jail. Hanlon also represents Mensah in the case the city brought against the former co-chair of the oversight board. Just a couple of days after Burris鈥� report was released and he was named interim director of the jail, Mensah received an April 21 trial date for the trespassing charge from 2023.

Hanlon asks an important question: Why is the city still prosecuting Mensah?

鈥淭he continued prosecution of Janis for simply requesting to do the oversight that in retrospect has been proven to be essential is a worrying choice,鈥� Hanlon says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e continuing to prosecute somebody who they seem to be admitting had a point.鈥�

Indeed, the only reason Burris was able to assess conditions in the City Justice Center is because Jones made sure somebody let him in and let him talk to people there. Clemons-Abdullah wasn鈥檛 there to block him, as she did Mensah and other oversight board members.

Even after looking at Burris鈥� 60-day plan to improve jail operations, Mensah has questions.

Why does the report not focus on jail deaths or uses of force? What will be the plan to provide real oversight after changes are made? The city, Mensah says, is good at talking about oversight and accountability but not so keen on providing it.

鈥淚鈥檓 extremely wary at this point of what the city is really going to do in practice,鈥� Mensah said.

In that regard, Burris has a track record. He made significant improvements in the county鈥檚 jail operations following a series of deaths. He鈥檚 now tasked with doing the same in the city. Will transparency follow?

That鈥檚 a question Hanlon has as she prepares to defend Mensah for being the canary in the coal mine.

If the trial goes forward, Hanlon says, 鈥淚t sends a message that accountability and oversight will be criminally punished if it鈥檚 potentially inconvenient for the mayor.鈥�