Prisons

Marriage Behind Bars: Judge Rules Missouri Law Can't Block Inmates From Tying the Knot

As the United States Supreme Court takes up gay marriage this week, in Missouri there's been progress in a different kind of marriage equality battle: the right to tie the knot behind bars. The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has been fighting for months on behalf of a group of ... More >>

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 >>

Iraq War Vet Sentenced for Smuggling Cigarettes Into Prison

A local military veteran who more recently spent his working days on one side of the iron bars will soon be living on the other side of them. Yesterday a U.S. district judge punished a federal correctional officer who previously served in Iraq for smuggling cigarettes into the prison where he worked ... More >>

Prison Reform Would Save Missouri Taxpayers Millions, Bipartisan Report Says

​Since 1990, Missouri's spending on inmates has tripled to more than $660 million, and the state's prison population has doubled. While the state's overall general fund has grown by 14 percent over the last decade, the Department of Corrections' budget has grown by 39 percent. For all the spendi ... More >>

Inmates More Likely to Die in Missouri Jails Than in 42* Other States

John Gotti died of throat cancer while incarcerated at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.​The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics released a bunch of numbers yesterday offering an exhaustive demographic account of inmates who are dying in p ... More >>

Jailbreak Timeline: Suspended Correction Commissioner's Memos Warned of Jails' Vulnerability for Months

Image via"We have a major public safety responsibility and jails can become a dangerous place to live and work without an appropriate managerial staffing pattern," Stubblefield told Bryson in April.​It's easy to understand why Division of Corrections Commissioner Gene Stubblefield wants the public ... More >>

Court of Appeals: Prison Employees Aren't Liable for Inmate's Attack

​Let's say an inmate is attacked by fellow inmates wearing masks, then put in an isolated environment for a 30-day period, presumably for protection while the matter is sorted out. The inmate pleads to correctional officers to be kept in protective custody, claiming that his assailants warned ... More >>

Don C. Weir Locked up at Medium-Security Penitentiary in Illinois, Not Satellite Camp

​Many readers have been asking: Where in the world is Don C. Weir, the Town & Country financial advisor who stole $12 million in precious-metal coin investments from dozens of clients? (Check out our feature, "Plot of Gold"). According to the Bureau of Prisons' inmate locator page, Mr. Weir is ... More >>

Cruel and unusual punishment: Malcolm sentences himself to Prison Loaf

"You're the Greatest, Asshole!"

The Mexican explains a Mex-centric phenomenon.

Barred Bard

Who knew Shakespeare was so good at rehabilitation?

How Does It Feel?

Recent lawsuits puncture the veil of secrecy surrounding lethal injection

Suspended Sentence

After Innocence probes life after a wrongful conviction

Life After Death Row

From maximum security in Potosi to a bungalow in Maplewood: The odyssey of Rabbit, a.k.a. Robert Driscoll

Uncomfortably Numb

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

Not Guilty

HotCity Theatre debuts with a polemic -- and how!

A Shot in the Arm

A federal appeals court says Darryl Burton might very well be innocent of the 1984 murder of Donald Ball. But there's nothing they can do about it.

All the Jail's a Stage

Missouri inmates are performing tales of murder, greed and insanity -- and learning how to leave their old lives behind

Where's Dora?

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

Letters

Week of October 29, 2003

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

Habitat for Inhumanity

The "asylums" depicted in The Magdalene Sisters undermine both the Catholic Church and the popular image of Ireland

Behind Closed Doors

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

Zen and the Art of Evasion

An alleged rape points to big workhouse problems

Serial Tiller

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

So Long, Joe

While Joe Amrine waits to die, Missouri courts won't admit they may be wrong

Getting What You Pay For

Blame for problems at the workhouse goes all the way to the top

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.

Captive Audience

The Prison Arts Project helps local inmates present a mesmerizing Hamlet

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

Fallen Angel

Angela Coffel, the first woman in Missouri deemed a sexually violent predator, is locked up despite overwhelming evidence that she isn't one.

Taking No Prisoners

Missouri maintains a spotless record at Bonne Terre facility

Hard of Hearing

The city was slow in adopting a jail-suicide expert's advice

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.

Dirty Work

A tale of prison gardeners is this summer's sweetest feel-good comedy

Blooper Max

Another security breach surfaces at Illinois' superexpensive supermaximum prison

Hard Luck, Hard Time

Donald Thweatt was once ready to fight for his country. Now he's fighting for his freedom.

Cell Theory

A new book takes an alarming look at America's increasing reliance on prisons

The Benetton Four

Meet the men who sparked a lawsuit

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.

Nothing Left to Lose

Faced with supertough restrictions, inmates at Tamms protest by refusing to eat

The Lost Boys

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.

Letters to the Editor

Published the week of February 23

Cruel and Usual

Tamms Correctional Center is one of the toughest, most expensive and least crowded prisons in the nation. But does it accomplish anything —- besides driving inmates insane?

TURNED 21 IN PRISON

Kevin Pelot struggles to articulate the thoughts fermenting inside him, sealed in the cask of prison life

COMMUNICATION SHAKEDOWN

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

Legislative Lockdown