Missouri Department of Corrections

St. Louis Thieves Plead Guilty to Stealing $11,475...In City Dumpster Hooks?

It's like Dumpster diving...only this rummaging through trash can apparently land you in jail. The St. Louis circuit attorney's office announced yesterday that Victoria Gibbs and Ladale Lewis have both pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of metal "Dumpster hooks" from the city. Why? Dumpster hoo ... More >>

Sentenced: Man Who Shoved Knife into Woman, Stole Her Purse, Threw It in Dumpster

Police say that James Johnson came up behind a woman outside of a St. Louis drugstore, "shoved a knife into her lower back," and said he would kill her if she didn't give him her purse. She fought back -- but he pushed her into her car and ran away with her belongings. He then, according to the Ci ... More >>

Evan Spencer Ebel: Tom Clements Murder Suspect Dead, Possible White Supremacy Tie

The murder of Tom Clements, the former director of adult institutions for the Missouri Department of Corrections, has taken several bizarre and violent twists since Daily RFT wrote about it yesterday. Clements, who, after over 30 years with the MCD, took the top slot at the Colorado Department of C ... More >>

Tom Clements: Police Search for Killer of Former Missouri Corrections Director

On Tuesday night, an individual showed up at the home of Tom Clements, who served with the Missouri department of corrections for three decades. When he opened the door, just after 8:30 pm., he was shot in the chest. And at this time, it appears authorities have not located a suspect in the homici ... More >>

25 Years for Attacker: "People Have the Right to Walk Down the Street and Not Be Strangled"

On a Sunday morning in May of 2011, Muhammed Watson approached a young woman on her way to get coffee in the Central West End. "Don't say a word," he told her as he started choking her. Eventually, she was unconscious. This is the horrific scene that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce des ... More >>

Matthew Pellegrini: Family Slams Plea Deal That Could Give Son's Accused Killer Seven Years

On Friday, we reported on Tami Inkley's campaign to get justice for her 18-year-old son Matthew, who police say was shot point-blank in the head by his friend Kevin Beindorff last year. Since then, the St. Louis Circuit Court Attorney's office and the defense have signed a plea agreement, on view be ... More >>

Springfield Resident Darrell Smith Tells Police He Accidentally Shot His Girlfriend In the Head

"I told her not to put her finger on the trigger and boom!" This was a direct statement Springfield resident Darrell Smith, 26, allegedly gave police when trying to explain why he shot his 23-year-old girlfriend Kimberly Walker in the head in December. According to new documents released this week, ... More >>

Terrell Reed, 21, Charged With Robbing Two Women on South Grand

Right around Thanksgiving, two women were robbed just steps away from the South Grand Business District. Today, a young man from the Tower Grove East neighborhood was charged with the crime. Terrell Reed, a 21-year-old from the 3200 block of Arsenal Street, now faces two counts of first-degree robbe ... More >>

New Prison Performing Arts Workshop Helps Inmates Prepare for Life Beyond Bars

"Have you done some time in prison?" asks Raynell Brandon, talking like an infomercial narrator to his fellow inmates at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific. "Having trouble adjusting to society? Solve all of your problems with our new spray, De-Institutionalize Plus! It works in s ... More >>

ACLU Challenges Amendment 2, But Not Because of Why You're Thinking

On Tuesday, Missourians overwhelmingly voted for Amendment 2, more commonly known as the "right to pray" amendment. The amendment ensures that everybody in the state has the right to express their religious beliefs, acknowledge God in public, and pray whether they're in a school, public building or ... More >>

Bradley Kingery, Inmate, Found Dead in Jefferson County Jail

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, early this morning inmates called out that one of their cellmates was unconscious. Officers checked on the man and found him unresponsive. They attempted to perform CPR, but by the time EMS personnel arrived it was too late.

Missouri's Prison Population Getting Older

In Missouri, the percentage of state prisoners age 50 and over has doubled in the past ten years, rising to 15.3 percent of all inmates in fiscal year 2010, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch, titled "Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States." That change repr ... More >>

True Crime Archive: St. Louis Murderer Dipped Fried Chicken in Victim's Blood, Ate It

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Elroy Preston is known in prison as the "Chicken Man." ​We hadn't heard about it, either. That is, until yesterday when we were thumbing through the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's spring newsletter. This issue of the newsletter is mostly about str ... More >>

City Judge David C. Mason Accused of Sleeping Through Trial of Offender He Sentenced to Life

Image viaJudge David C. "Maximum" Mason of the 22nd Circuit -- noddin' off during trial?​It's not easy to feel sorry for Terrence Hendricks. He's the 23-year-old who burglarized a home a few blocks north of the U. City Loop back in February 2009. When the homeowner returned and caught him red-hand ... More >>

Martin Link: Convicted Child Rapist, Murderer to Be Executed Tonight

Missouri Department of CorrectionsMartin Link: Linked to a brutal crime.​Missouri is expected to execute its first prisoner in nearly two years just after midnight tonight at its correctional center in Bonne Terre. Martin Link, 47, was convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of 11-year-old Elissa ... More >>

Jason Finney and Trevlan Glass: St. Louis Homicides No. 127, 128; Murdered at Funeral

Missouri Department of CorrectionsJason Finney had a history of arrests.​St. Louis police have identified the two people killed during yesterday's funeral of David Davis at Reliable Funeral Home in Midtown. The deceased are Jason Finney and Trevlan Glass, both 31 years old. Police believe that Fin ... More >>

Donald Zakrzewski: Burglar Falls Into Landfill and Dies Fleeing Homeowner, Cops

Police chief Rich Wooten calls it one of the most unusual incidents he's seen during his 26 years serving the St. Louis suburb of Ladue. At 11:45 p.m. Saturday a homeowner in the 9700 block of Old Warson called Wooten's department to report a burglary. The man had just returned from an evening out t ... More >>

Miracle Man: Darryl Burton forgives St. Louis. He just doesn't trust it.

Alleged Copia Fire Starter Nabbed

Alleged Copia Fire Starter Nabbed

Cruel and unusual punishment: Malcolm sentences himself to Prison Loaf

How Does It Feel?

Recent lawsuits puncture the veil of secrecy surrounding lethal injection

Peace and Punishment

St. Louis judges turn to Transcendental Meditation to rehab convicted felons

Trick or Treatment

Court-ordered classes for two-bit crooks: Are they a waste of time and money?

Numb and Number

Legal challenges shed light on Missouri's lethal-injection protocols

Crash and Burn

Fire chief is killed after ex-con flees

Uncomfortably Numb

Lethal injection looks painless and peaceful. On Missouri's death row, appearances can be deceiving.

The Case That Haunts

The most notorious cold case in the history of the St. Louis Police Department still haunts homicide detectives

Name That Spud

Will the real Lavell Webb please stand up?

Where's Dora?

Former St. Louis corrections chief Dora Schriro has moved on to a more high-profile controversy

Dying to Get Out

Some inmates tell horror stories about healthcare at the women's prison in Vandalia. Some didn't live to tell their tales.

The Case of the Vanishing Videotape

A workhouse inmate claims he was wrongly beaten, and city officials scramble to get their stories straight

Best Local Girl Made Good

Dora Schriro

Hard Case

Marie Clark's group-therapy sessions are a sex offender's worst nightmare. Her down-and-dirty approach gives some of her colleagues the willies too.

Behind Closed Doors

Once open to the world, Missouri's death row is now secret

Teflon Tiller

As the circle closes around him, John Tiller scrambles

Fail Safe

She thought she lived in a secure place. What she didn't know was that her landlord, desperate for tenants, would invite terror inside.

Serial Tiller

When it comes to ripping people off, John Tiller and the Civil Rights Legal Defense Team just keep going and going

Empty Promises

Missouri has been pouring millions into prisons that aren't being used. But stay tuned: If politicians have their way, there will be plenty of inmates to go around.

Shifting Ground

Not only are Angel's jailers changing the rules, they're fibbing about them

Solitary Man

Lifer Bill Herron knew exactly how to get out of jail -- until 16 years ago, when the Missouri Department of Corrections locked him in solitary

Unlucky Seven

Faced with an unprecedented rash of inmate suicides, St. Louis was slow to respond. Now there's a new jailhouse boss in town.

The Ethics Cop

Mike Reid knows firsthand what it's like to bend the rules

Who's Next?

Annette Green didn't have to die. Her death was a tragedy waiting to happen in St. Louis County's reckless war against two-bit drug dealers and addicts.

Getting Off Easy

He drugged her and raped her. "This," the judge told them, "is why you don't go to bars." Then, ignoring the jury's advice, he gave the rapist probation.

Killer Campaign

When the Benetton clothing company dared to humanize death-row inmates in a $20 million ad campaign, Attorney General Jay Nixon threw a fit. Then he played right into their hands and sued them.

The Boys from Boonville

In 1963, a group of African-American runaways and truants was sent to a rural reform school. Then the nightmare began.

ALL OPPOSED, SAY "NEIGH"

Banning bestiality could be a tough sell next year in Jefferson City

COMMUNICATION SHAKEDOWN

MCI WorldCom and the state are raking in windfall profits from the captive customers in Missouri's prisons

Sympathy for the Devil

Six years ago, a St. Louis judge took a hell of a risk. He let Von Nebbitt go free despite years of drug dealing and stealing, weapons offenses and parole violations. One of them has learned a lesson.