WATCH: Inmates start fires, create chaos in downtown St. Louis jail | The Post Millennial
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WATCH: Inmates start fires, create chaos in downtown St. Louis jail
Inmates at the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis reportedly smashed windows, created floods and set fires in the jail building Saturday morning, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Inmates at the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis reportedly smashed windows, created floods and set fires in the jail building Saturday morning, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
City officials said that all of the inmates involved were returned to custody before 10 am.
Some 115 detainees on the fourth floor of the jail clogged toilets, creating floods, and set fires, spokesman for Mayor Lyda Krewson, Jacob Long, said. Long said that about 65 inmates were being transferred to the Medium Security Institution this morning following the disturbance.
Inmates gathered near broken windows on the 4th floor of the jail at around 6:30 am, reportedly throwing debris out of the windows and onto on Tucker Boulevard, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Small fires could be seen inside the windows of the building, and some objects being thrown from the windows appeared to have been set on fire.
Firefighters and other first responders arrived at the jail before 7 am, as a small crowd congregated to observe the spectacle.
Long called the incident a "very dangerous disturbance" and said that the Mayor as well as Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards were present at the scene.
There are a total of 633 detainees in custody at the City Justice Center, the the incident only involved detainees on the fourth floor, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
It's unclear how the inmates were able to cause such chaos from within the jail. This is reportedly the third disturbance of this kind at the City Justice Center in recent weeks.
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