FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Amidst continuing Jail Deaths at CJC, Freedom Community Center Releases ‘A Year in 16B: 2021-2022 CourtWatch Report,’ showing a Pattern of Prosecutors Overreliance on “No Bond Allowed” recommendations in the 22nd Judicial Circuit
November 17, 2022
(St. Louis, Mo.) Released on November 17, 2022 Freedom Community Center (FCC)’s new report provides an interactive compilation of unprecedented findings from its program, FCC CourtWatch, a local court monitoring initiative. The report analyzes FCC CourtWatch outcomes from 1,810 bail hearings that FCC CourtWatchers witnessed from June 2021 to June 2022 in the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri. The multi-page report, now available here, further exposes instances and patterns of injustice and racial disparities observed at bail hearings, such as the prevalence of restrictive pretrial conditions in the form of judges detaining individuals on “no bond allowed” 62% of the time. The report also highlights stark racial disparities that increased in the last 6 months. Court Watchers noted, “From January to June of 2022, Courtwatchers saw 5x more Black women go through bail hearings than white women and 6x more Black men than white men.”
“Since April 2022, six people have died while in custody at the St. Louis City Justice Center. People often talk about violence in St. Louis City, but they don’t talk about the violence of our pretrial punishment system. Those decisions made in 16B can have life and death consequences” said Mike Milton, Founder and Executive Director of Freedom Community Center. “This report shines a light on the racist practices that threaten the lives of people in our city. We seek to increase accountability for decisions made in the name of “public safety,” which, when examined, don’t keep us safe.”
The report, ‘A year in 16B,’ illustrates the impacts of bail hearings for people caught inside of the system and reveals the collateral consequences of pretrial detention for people who are loved ones or family members of those caught in the tentacles of the criminal legal system. One story describes a 19 year old who is the sole caregiver for three siblings being denied bond in a bail hearing.
Interwoven into the report are testimonies from those who have spent time at the City Justice Center. One testimony reads, “I was locked up at the St. Louis City Justice Center jail. I lost all my rights when I was there. I didn’t even get a phone call and I couldn’t call my family, they had no idea where I was. The Correctional Officers would use bear mace on us, you could feel it whenever they sprayed it in the unit. The mace was so strong it would burn our skin and eyes.”
Additionally, the report conveys a few other key findings. For example, CourtWatchers observed Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office recommending “no bond allowed,” 88% of the time. The report also notes, “if it were up to the Circuit Attorney's Office, at least 263 more people would have been jailed without bond from June 2021- June 2022.”
Since June 2021, Freedom Community Center has operated FCC CourtWatch to track how the courts– bail hearings, in particular– operate. The main goals of FCC CourtWatch are to inform the public of relevant findings, and to raise public awareness of the impact these outcomes have on people’s lives. On social media, FCC has shared weekly and monthly findings from CourtWatchers’ observations via @STLCourtWatch on Twitter, and @FCCStLouis on Instagram. In 2022, FCC began publishing #WatchStoryWednesdays, notable interactions between the judge, the prosecutor, the individual, and their state appointed attorney or public defender. For example, in March 2022, @CourtWatchSTL tweeted observations from a hearing where a trans woman with multiple mental health diagnoses was denied bail without the proper facilities to shower for over a week while she awaited her next hearing.
“In order to promote true public safety, we need to invest into methods and mechanisms that are rooted in transformative and restorative justice that create pathways for healing and reconciliation rather than doubling down on outdated methods of punishment and control. We’ve seen the results of those tactics. They don’t work. Our city is calling for a different approach,” commented Milton. FCC is not only working to divert people away from the criminal justice system but also to offer alternative means of release through providing bail assistance and sponsoring recognizance release to those held without bond.
FCC CourtWatchers continue to attend court hearings each week in the City of St. Louis and publish data online. Lead Organizer of CourtWatch for Freedom Community Center, Hattie Svoboda-Stel said, “Courtwatching has given me an intimate look into the horrible harm this system causes, not only for those who are left behind but for their families left behind on the outside. In all these hearings you can feel the weight of their fates in the balance. CourtWatching is how we can engage this process as community members, holding decision makers to account for the injustices that are so often only known to those targeted by the criminal punishment system.”
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Media Contact:
Patrick Sullivan, Communications
communications@freedomstl.org , (314) 707-9334