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FERGUSON, MO - AUGUST 13: Police stand watch as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown on August 13, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer on Saturday. Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb, is experiencing its fourth day of violent protests since the killing. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis
‘We Can Do Hard Things’: How a Grassroots Campaign Shut Down a Notorious St. Louis Jail
A new documentary, “Hell on Hall Street,” shows how community organizations fought to close and, ultimately, demolish the jail known as The Workhouse.
By
A photo shows a Black woman hugging her son in front of their house. The woman is wearing a black sweater. The son is wearing headphones, a beanie, glasses, a backpack and a red sweater.
A photo shows a bald White man, wearing glasses and a striped button-down shirt, leaning against an exterior wall of a courthouse to pose for a portrait.
St. Louis October 29
Missouri Passed a Law to Compensate the Wrongfully Convicted. Now It Doesn’t Want to Pay.
Two men are seeking $2.4 million for their combined 38 years lost in prison. The attorney general is fighting them in court.
By
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 June 25
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
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.
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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 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
St. Louis November 18, 2025
How We Got Comprehensive Death Data From the Missouri DOC
After repeated questions about missing deaths in the state’s existing logs, the department shared annual counts for the first time.
By
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