One detainee bit another this morning at St. Louis’ troubled City Justice Center, an incident severe enough that one inmate is facing assault charges while the other had to be taken to the hospital.
The St. Louis Fire Department has confirmed they were called to the jail around 5:30 a.m. and that they took one detainee to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Detention Facilities Oversight Board Chair Darryl Gray tells the RFT he heard about the incident this afternoon from Director of Public Safety Charles Coyle.
Gray says that the two inmates involved in the incident were cellmates. Police were called in and an assault charge appears to be in the offing for the attacker.
Initially, there was talk among people familiar with jail operations that the victim in the case had lost his ear entirely. Gray says that may not be true.
"[Coyle] just indicated that he was bitten, and that there may have been other bites as well, but not to the severity of losing an ear," Gray says.
This year has been a chaotic one for the downtown St. Louis jail. It saw a rash of deaths in the fall, including three detainees dying in one six-week period, and a hostage situation playing out in the facility in August, which some observers described as a riot. Last week, Coyle told a Board of Aldermen committee that Narcan — used to help people who may be overdosing — is deployed by jail staff on average about once every three days. We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected]
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