ST. LOUIS (KMOX ) - There's a new man in charge of the troubled St. Louis City Justice Center.
Doug Burris has been appointed the interim commissioner of the St. Louis City Justice Center by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones Monday morning, replacing Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah.
"Even though the City Justice Center in St. Louis has improved in some ways during my tenure, the fact is that we need our jail to continue to improve, be safer, better equipped to bring down recidivism rates, and gain community trust," said Mayor Jones in a press release. "Doug’s experience and professional insight will bring us a long way."
Burris served 18 years as chief United States probation officer for the Eastern District of Missouri, and spent three years as director of justice services in St. Louis County.
Burris was initially contracted by the city in early December 2024 to review and make recommendations at the City Justice Center.
Burris released his report into the jail Monday morning, which amongst other things highlights the lack of correctional officers at the jail hurting morale, saying the need for more officers is dire.
His report found smoke detectors would go off nearly every day at the jail, most likely due to detainees smoking contraband or paper soaked in coffee.
It also found poor living conditions for detainees particularly at the jails intake areas. The report revealed one in four detainees at the jail are suffering from mental illness and being prescribed psychiatric medications.
Mayor Jones directed Burris to implement a number of the 35 recommendations from his Operational Review within the first 60 days of his tenure, though Burris says he doesn't have a time line for when he'd expect to see results.
Some of the recommendation Burris made include the Justice Center become accredited through the American Correctional Association in order to reach nationally accepted standards and contracting with a correctional officer recruiter.
"It is dire, but I am confident with this organization, we got to see how quick they can get in action," said Burris. "I can't can't answer until we get a contact and get their predictions."