On Tuesday a federal judge ruled that St. Louis jails cannot hold inmates simply because they cannot make bail. That decision came just one day before a press conference this week at City Hall, where Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, joined representatives of the Close the Workhouse campaign in urging city officials to shut down the Medium Security Institution, known as the workhouse.
Cohen joined Inez Bordeaux, who spent about a month incarcerated in the workhouse in 2016, on St. Louis on the Air for a conversation with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl. Ahl also spoke with the city’s public safety director, Jimmie Edwards, who gave his perspective on the condition of the workhouse, the cash bail system and related topics.
Listen to the discussions:
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Alex Heuer, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The engineer is Aaron Doerr and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.
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