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February riot shows dire need for staffing at St. Louis County jail, new acting director says 23%
By Lacretia Wimbley0%
6/29/2026, 3:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Optimism Bias, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 20.3% saturation with 136 hits. Analysis detected 1,132 faulty-reasoning hits from 669 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 35.9% and a BS Rank of 23% (17,046 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 77.90% of the article peer group.
February riot shows dire need for staffing at St.
Louis County jail, new acting director says
St.
Louis County Justice Center acting Director Tim Ware said a riot at the jail in February underscores the need to hire more staff so that residents can be let out of their cells more often.
On Feb.
7, Ware said 34 male detainees in housing unit 7C ignored commands to return to their cells after 5 p.m. as lockdown was being implemented.
Officials said the detainees had expressed frustration about a lack of dayroom time and phone access and Wi-Fi problems — similar to complaints loved ones and former jail staff have shared with St.
Louis Public Radio in recent months.
The protest started off peaceful but became disruptive as detainees refused to follow commands, some stating they wanted their full 15 minutes of dayroom time after getting out of their cell late.
Jail records show another detainee said, “We might as well start bussing windows out this motherf------ then.”
Records show detainees barricaded the doors in the unit using chairs and bed sheets as correctional officers called for backup.
One detainee threw a basketball at a camera and knocked it loose from a ceiling mount.
Others tore down TVs in the unit, an incident report says.
Jail staff dispersed chemicals similar to tear gas several times before things calmed down and everyone returned to their cells, jail officials said.
Records show four detainees caused a little over $30,000 in damage, and the Clayton Police Department is investigating.
The incident lasted about 40 minutes.
No one was hospitalized, and no serious injuries were reported.
Medical staff tended to those exposed to chemical dispersants.
Ware — a former county police captain appointed as acting jail director on June 15 — said detainees' cries for more time outside their cell are valid.
He said the jail is short-staffed by about 80 correctional officers.
The limited staffing means emergency situations like February’s riot could have turned out worse, he said.
“We are grateful that no corrections officer or resident was significantly injured during this incident,” Ware said.
“The discontent of residents that resulted in this incident is all due to our understaffing in corrections officers which required limitations on the residents' movements.
I look forward to renegotiating our collective bargaining agreement so that St.
Louis County corrections officers can be paid equivalent to other corrections officers in the region.”
Ware said they’re also addressing training so that the next incident is deescalated with less disruption.
The county jail has had a difficult time recruiting new officers because the pay is comparatively low, jail leaders said.
An annual starting salary for a correctional officer is roughly $43,992, compared to $44,699 at the St.
Louis City Justice Center, $49,465 in St.
Charles County and $50,000 in the Kansas City region.
Ware acknowledged the jail’s frequent flooding problem.
Jail officials have previously said the flooding is caused by detainees who destroy sprinkler heads in the building.
“The flooding part is a direct result of the residents not being out of their cells, so it's a trickle down effect,” Ware said.
“We get them out of their cells more often, they're happier, they're being treated better, they stop flooding the toilets, things of that nature.”
He said last week that a new sprinkler system that can’t be damaged by detainees is currently being installed.
Before the jail appointment, Ware had served at the St.
Louis County Police Department since 1998.
Now at the helm of the county jail, Ware said his priorities right now include hiring staff and training.
“Staffing is No.
1.
That affects tons of other issues, that gets the residents of their cells more often, that gets the overtime down, that gets everyone having a healthier work life,” Ware said.
He said that the next training academy begins July 6 and that the jail currently has about 20 potential hires.
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