Ste. Genevieve County Jail Congressional Oversight Visit
By Sarah Kaul, Ashrei Interim Hotline Capacity Coordinator
On Tuesday, May 26th, U.S. Representatives Nikki Budzinksi of Illinois and Wesley Bell of Missouri, traveled to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri for a congressional oversight visit at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center made possible, in part, by the Ashrei Foundation and the Ste. Genevieve chapter of Abide in Love.
One of the functions of congressional oversight visits is to bring accountability to the jails, and both Representatives highlighted that they will be following up with jail staff and their detained constituents to make sure the conditions have improved, and that the jail staff fulfills the commitments that were made. In addiition to the teams from the U.S. Representatives offices, Ashrei’s Executive Director, Sara Ruiz, and staff Aubrey Lay and Sarah Kaul, as well as volunteers from the local Abide in Love chapter were nearby for support and press follow up.
The Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center is contracted to hold ICE detainees, and houses upwards of 150 ICE detainees depending on the day. As part of their duties on the congressional oversight committee, they and their staffers received a tour of the jail, spoke with sheriff Gary Stolzer, and had the opportunity to talk to two constituents there who were detained by ICE. One of those women is pregnant, and questions around her insufficient access to pre-natal care, vitamins and clean water were among the most concerning takeaways from the visit.
Shortly after the representatives completed the oversight visit, they gathered nearby to speak to several local news outlets about what they had learned, the gaps between the jail’s statements and detainee experiences, and their concern for the detainees’ treatment.
Both Representatives Budzinksi and Bell expressed worries about detainee access to medical treatment, clean water, and legal information about their cases, highlighting that while the jail claims two notaries are on staff, the detainees they spoke to shared conflicting experiences.
Representative Budzinski commented on overcrowding she witnessed, and the fact that many detainees are made to sleep on thin trays, called “boats,” instead of beds, which troubled her. “If you don’t have enough beds, you’re approaching an overcrowding situation,” she stated during the press conference.
Representative Bell touched on the nature of the detention in his remarks, pointing out that the facility was made to house convicted criminals, and those in ICE custody have been convicted of no crimes, but are rather being held in civil detention. Bell, having visited the jail previously during his work as a prosecutor, also noted that they were likely seeing a cleaned up, more sanitized version of the jail, since their visit was scheduled and expected
See news coverage about this oversight visit here:
