A 32-year-old man facing assault charges died in custody of the St. Louis City Justice Center this past weekend, though it is unclear if he passed away at the jail or en route to a hospital.
Carlton Bernard's death occurred on Sunday, according to attorney Mark Pedroli, who is investigating the death on behalf of Bernard's mother.
Pedroli says that the jail has told Bernard's family that he died in an ambulance heading from the downtown jail to a hospital. Pedroli is now trying to verify that information and pin down other specifics as well.
Neither the city's Division of Corrections nor the Department of Public Safety have relased any public statement about Bernard's death. Bernard is still listed in city correction's records as being in custody, though the facility he is listed as being in is “unknown.”
The RFT reached out to the Department of Public Safety for comment and we will update the story when we hear back.
Bernard was locked up on third-degree assault charges, filed as the lowest degree of felony. On March 29 of this year, he allegedly walked up to a woman at Lindell Boulevard and McPherson Avenue in Midtown and said, "Are you calling someone on me?" according to the police probable cause statement. He then pulled one of the woman's Airpods out of her ear and struck her on the side of her face.
The City Justice Center has been subject to allegations of corrections officers regularly using mace on detainees and brutalizing others. Detainees twice led revolts in 2021, and the city’s own oversight board has called for Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah, who was hired after the 2021 incidents, to be fired.
"Jail should not be a death sentence," oversight board member Mike Milton tells the RFT. "The devastating reality is, if you are Black, arrested in St. Louis, and the judge decides to detain you pretrial, that could be a death sentence. Since April of 2022, at least seven people have died in custody at CJC."
Two days after Bernard's death, a hostage situation at the city jail dominated local news on Tuesday morning. Around 6 a.m., a group of detainees held a guard against his will and reportedly demanded pizza in exchange for his release.
The hostage situation came to an abrupt end two and a half hours later upon the arrival of a SWAT team who deployed "less than lethal force."
The Post-Dispatch reported this afternoon that five detainees took part in the hostage scheme, three of whom are in jail on murder charges.
The incident only heightened the bad blood between Clemons-Abdullah and the oversight board. In comments to the Post-Dispatch, oversight board member Darryl Gray called the corrections commissioner's news conference about the hostage situation "comical" for the lack of information released.
Milton, too, didn't mince words.
"Whether it is torturing people with chemical agents inside CJC, or avoiding accountability by with holding information from the citizens appointed to oversee the jail, this administration has shown that they believe the people inside the jail are undeserving of treatment as human beings," Milton says.
UPDATE: Department of Public Safety Spokesman Monte Chambers confirmed Bernard's death in a statement, saying, "The Division of Corrections is investigating an incident involving the death of a detainee on Sunday, August 20, 2023, who experienced a medical emergency and was transported to an area hospital where the detainee was pronounced deceased. The Detainee has been at the City Justice Center since June 20, 2023. The investigation is ongoing."
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