In the six months since the Michael Brown shooting, reformers have targeted the many municipal courts of St. Louis County. The February issue of St. Louis Magazine included a package of graphics and stories explaining criticisms of local courts, which often imprison poor defendants for minor offenses without providing any alternative to paying costly fines. And in the March issue, look for a profile of Nicole Bolden, a North County resident who spent harrowing weeks bouncing between municipal jails because of unpaid traffic tickets.
Now, a group of civil-rights lawyers, including the local legal-aid nonprofit Arch City Defenders, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Ferguson alleging deplorable conditions and illegal practices in its municipal jail and court. (A nearly identical suit was also filed against Jennings.)
The Ferguson suit alleges that 11 impoverished plaintiffs were locked up because they could not afford to pay fines imposed for traffic tickets or other minor offenses. “In each case, the city imprisoned a human being solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment,” the suit reads. The plaintiffs were not provided attorneys or advised of their legal rights, and “instead, they were threatened, abused, and left to languish in confinement at the mercy of local officials until their frightened family members could produce enough cash to buy their freedom or until city jail officials decided, days or weeks later, to let them out for free.” The suit alleges that at no time did the city conduct a meaningful inquiry into the plaintiffs’ ability to pay.
The lawsuit also alleges that conditions inside the jail are “grotesque.” Cells are overcrowded and smell of excrement. Hygiene products are not supplied. Prisoners are left in the same clothes without access to laundry or a shower for days on end. The single shared toilet is not cleaned. Inmates are denied access to medication. They aren’t adequately fed. Officers are verbally abusive.
Ferguson has denied the claims made in the lawsuit. “This lawsuit is disturbing because it contains allegations that are not based on objective facts,” Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said in a statement.
Here are five particularly alarming claims made by individual plaintiffs.
1. Keilee Fant: A 37-year-old poor single mother, Fant has been imprisoned by several St. Louis County municipalities because of old traffic tickets. Once, the lawsuit claims she was held in the Ferguson jail for nearly 50 days without a toothbrush, shower, or change of clothes. During that time, she missed her father’s funeral. More recently, during Ferguson jail stays in 2013 and 2014, she accuses jail staff of harassment. On one occasion, when Fant shared her blanket with an elderly woman who was cold, she says guards became angry, calling them “stanky ass dykes” and “dirty whores.” Fant has lost multiple jobs while trapped in this cycle of debt and jailing.
2. Roelif Carter: A 62-year-old military veteran, Carter has suffered for years from a debilitating brain aneurism. More than a decade ago, he received tickets from Ferguson. He pleaded guilty, but told the city that he could not afford to pay the fines. Officials put him on a payment plan, requiring $100 per month. When one payment came in late, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and Carter spent three days in jail and was told he now owed more than $1,000. Reasons for the increased fines were not provided. This cycle repeated itself several more times, with Carter making $100 monthly payments, falling behind, then spending time in jail. Each time, his total debt to the city was increased. He was never taken to court or provided a lawyer. Over time, he has paid the city several thousand dollars.
3. Allison Nelson: A 23-year-old who makes minimum wage at a clothing store, Nelson has been jailed in Ferguson for failing to pay traffic tickets. She alleges that while incarcerated, she was provided with dirty blankets that had been previously used by other inmates. Her only source of drinking water was a mechanism above the dirty toilet that smelled of sewage. Nelson’s dream is to join the Navy, but her outstanding traffic warrants, which she cannot afford to resolve, have prevented her from enlisting. The lawsuit alleges jail staff bargained with Nelson’s family as to how much they must pay to buy her freedom, seemingly making up the rules as they went along to generate as much revenue as possible.
4. Herbert Nelson Jr.: The 26-year-old Nelson has been imprisoned at least four times in Ferguson because of unpaid fines and court costs. On multiple occasions, his mother borrowed hundreds of dollars from friends and family to buy his release. Nelson alleges that during his stays, men were forced to sleep on the floor of the overcrowded cell in proximity to the open toilet. The walls “were caked with old food, dust, blood, and mucus.” Nelson asserts that he was provided insufficient food. Inmates received a donut in the morning, a small pot pie for lunch, and another pot pie for dinner. While in the Jennings jail, Nelson contracted a leg infection that turned into large boils. After being transferred to the Ferguson jail, he says he was denied medical treatment. When he finally did see a nurse, he was advised that the infection was the result of the dirty jail conditions.
5. Alfred Morris: The lawsuit alleges that Morris, a 62-year-old disabled veteran, was incarcerated in Ferguson for violating an arcane ordinance prohibiting people from having romantic partners spend the night at their homes without naming the person in writing in advance. Police allegedly arrested Morris after finding women’s clothing in his home. Morris appeared in court and asked to plead not guilty. The judge instructed him to return with an attorney. Because he could not afford one, he did not return at all, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested and taken to the Ferguson jail, where the suit alleges he became very ill when jail staff refused to provide his blood pressure and HIV medications. When he complained of feeling unwell, staff initially threatened him, until his condition deteriorated and paramedics were called.
