Photo by Tony Messenger, Post Dispatch
By Elyse Schaeffer & Maxine Gill, MCE Policy Coordinators
Missouri Coalition for the Environment has a proud history of advocating for and participating in civilian oversight of government and private operations. We monitor the Department of Natural Resources’ regulatory actions, testify at Public Service Commission hearings about utility issues, monitor planned industrial manufacturing operations and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and support resident oversight for City-level climate action planning. That’s why we were outraged to learn about police, “handcuffing, shoving and dragging,” a duly appointed, civilian member of the St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board “out of the jail unconscious,” and charging them with trespassing and resisting arrest for doing their job. Janis Mensah was appointed by former Mayor Tishaura Jones to the St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board. They went to the City Justice Center on the evening of August 31st, 2023 to follow up on a call about a detainee’s death. While sitting peacefully on a bench, police brutalized Mensah and forcibly removed them from the building. Mensah was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing.
On Wednesday, July 23, Mensah faced a trial for their charges unjustly accrued for attempting to fulfill their role as Vice Chair of the Detention Facilities Oversight Board. On Thursday, the case was dismissed due to administrative errors from the City’s prosecution team.
Participating in democracy should not put someone in harm’s way. MCE is proud to have joined over 30 other organizations in a coalition to support Janis, and to have added our name to the over 700 signatories asking for Janis’ charges to be dropped.
Jail conditions, government oversight, and our work at MCE:
Government oversight:
We at MCE fear that a dangerous precedent is set by these charges. The City Justice Center demonstrated that if someone critiques them publicly, they’ll be met with violence. We rely on the cooperation and transparency of the government to access information we need to provide oversight. Will we too face violence if we speak out in opposition to decisions we disagree with? MCE’s advocacy efforts rely on the ability to support legislation and conduct oversight into government operations without fear of retaliation. For instance, we rely on open communication with the Department of Natural Resources and ready compliance with government document requests to oversee the operations of CAFOs. For years, we have introduced legislation to reinstate a public majority on the Clean Water Commission to allow for public input into permitting decisions that impact water contamination in the state. The actions of the City Justice Center leadership set a precedent of government actors using forceful means to stop civilian oversight of operations when they do not want to face scrutiny which we cannot abide.
Extreme Heat & Jail Conditions:
Jail oversight specifically intersects with our work on extreme urban heat. Temperatures are rising world wide, and more so in cities. Many jails are simply not prepared to keep detainees safe during spikes in temperature. Three prisons in Missouri have limited or no air conditioning, which makes it much more likely that people living there will suffer from heat illness or death.
Further, jails are a specific environmental justice concern. Age, race, disability status, and certain health conditions affect how vulnerable someone is to suffering from heat illness or heat death. People in prisons are even more vulnerable to heat illness or death because of the lack of bodily autonomy, lack of access to healthcare, and lack of access to cooling resources they face. Black people are overrepresented in Missouri jails–and Black people are more likely to suffer from heat illness. The prison population nationwide is also aging rapidly, and St. Louis’ jail is no exception. Being over age 65 increases the risk of heat illness as the body’s ability to self regulate breaks down. Certain heart and lung conditions also contribute to heat illness vulnerability. Mensah very well could have been responding to a call about a heat related death at the end of August. Because of the violence they experienced while trying to do their job, we may never know.
Janis is now free from prosecution, but the poor environmental conditions in the City Justice Center remain. To stay updated on the fight to improve living conditions for those who are imprisoned in St. Louis, follow the work of Arch City Defenders, the Freedom Community Center, the MacArthur Justice Center, and/or the Organization for Black Struggle.