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Illustration of the St. Louis skyline across the river, with foliage in the foreground. Simiya Sudduth

The Marshall Project — St. Louis

Exposing abuses in the criminal justice system in St. Louis and Missouri through investigative, data and community engagement journalism.

Analysis
Hundreds of Calls for Help: What 911 Logs Reveal About the Local Jail
From assaults to suicide attempts, emergency calls can be a sign of problems that jails can’t handle on their own.
By , and
An illustration with dark teal, red, orange and yellow tones shows a complex of multistory jail buildings. From left to right, three boxes show a jail employee with medium skin tone with a phone up to his ear, two incarcerated men with medium and medium-light skin tones fighting, and the legs of an incarcerated person on a bed in the foreground and a correctional officer with his back turned in the background.
Analysis March 12
Public Records Power Accountability in Missouri — if We Can Get Them
Sunshine Week highlights the power of public records and the growing barriers that limit transparency and weaken public oversight.
By The Marshall Project
An illustration shows a prison cell in shades of dark teal blue, with an incarcerated person with a ponytail in a beige prison uniform reaching up to a strand of DNA coming down from the ceiling. Some of the horizontal lines that tie the two strands of the DNA together have come undone and fallen on the floor of the cell. In the cell, a bed and a sink and toilet are visible.
St. Louis March 10
Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.
Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years.
By
St. Louis March 5
Why Missouri Prisons Can Be Deadly for People With Opioid Addictions
In a prison system rife with drugs, a new civil rights lawsuit accuses the Missouri DOC of punishing people for addiction, rather than treating it.
By
A photo shows a view of a person shoveling snow.
News January 30
When Temps Plunge, Dilapidated Jails and Prisons Put Lives at Risk
The Marshall Project examined reports of scarce food and water and interrupted access to medical care during a day-long power outage in Mississippi.
By , and
An illustration shows a window into a room where a person is covered by a bedsheet while lying on top of a gurney. Two guards stand on the left and right sides of the window in the foreground.
St. Louis January 8
How Missouri Denied Condemned Men Spiritual Advisers at Their Deaths
“We’re talking about constitutional rights in someone’s dying moments,” one advocate said.
By
St. Louis December 17, 2025
The St. Louis Jails Are Running Out of Officers
Too many detainees and too few staff have pushed the City Justice Center and County Jail to a breaking point.
By
A collage shows images of clippings of a court case, a prison facility and a nurse with a stethoscope writing on a clipboard.
St. Louis December 8, 2025
Nurses Say Staff Shortage at Missouri Prison Means Skipped Medication, Long Waits for Care
Current and former employees at Jefferson City Correctional Center say the shortage is causing unrest. They blame the state’s contractor, Centurion Health.
By
An illustration shows a floating white cloth in front of a teal background. A person in an orange outfit exits from within the white cloth, pushing the fabric to the side like a curtain.
St. Louis December 1, 2025
An Overlooked Source of Information in Missouri Prison Deaths: The Coroner
When corrections officials aren’t forthcoming with records, coroners can offer families the details needed to find closure or pursue accountability.
By
An illustration shows a person in an orange prison uniform falling into a tall stack of teal colored papers. Several stacks of teal colored papers with headshots on them are in the background.
St. Louis November 18, 2025
There Was No Way to Know How Many People Died in Missouri Prisons — Until Now
For years, the state’s Department of Corrections cobbled together death records from multiple sources. New data reveals annual totals for the first time.
By
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