ST. LOUIS, MO — The City of St. Louis has agreed to a $4 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging inmates at a now-shuttered jail were housed in deplorable conditions, including bug and pest infestation and rodent feces in the food.
ArchCity Defenders, a non-profit legal advocacy group, announced the settlement on Tuesday and filed a motion in federal court to allow them to notify people who were incarcerated at the jail that they could be eligible for damages.
“I am happy that the lawsuit is finally over, and I am happy that people are not going to be held in that place. It was a horrible place. They treat dogs at the shelter better than they treated us. It’s nice to be compensated with the settlement, but I can’t get back any of the time that I was dealing with being locked up and being away from my kids in that unsuitable environment,” plaintiff Jasmine Borden said in a news release from ArchCity Defenders.
The terms of the settlement were reached in February, according to ArchCity Defenders.
The plaintiffs who originally sued in 2017 are all Black, the Associated Press reported.
According to 2020 U.S. census data, Blacks made up about 43% of the city’s population.
If approved, about 16,000 inmates who were housed there for five or more days from November 2012 through June 2022 may be eligible to file a claim. The jail was closed in 2022; demolition began earlier this year.
More on the settlement agreement and the closed jail.
