ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city sheriff has refused to transport city jail detainees to and from hospitals for medical care, just a week after telling aldermen he would continue the service, city officials said.
A spokesperson for the city鈥檚 Department of Public Safety said Sheriff Alfred Montgomery鈥檚 office had started refusing requests on June 3, the day after the hearing with aldermen. Jail guards, already in short supply, have had to take inmates instead.
鈥淎s of today, he has refused six,鈥 the spokesperson, Jamella Brown, said late Monday.
The sheriff鈥檚 office denied the allegation.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e lying,鈥 said Blake Lawrence, an attorney for the sheriff. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing everything as before.鈥
He said there have been times when there were no deputies available to take inmates to the hospital. Sometimes they鈥檙e already with an inmate.
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David Mason, another attorney for the sheriff, added in a statement that the duty to ensure detainees receive medical care falls on the city鈥檚 public safety department, which oversees most other functions at the City Justice Center.
The back-and-forth reprised concerns about Montgomery鈥檚 office at a time when officials across the city are growing increasingly skeptical of the newly elected sheriff.
They have already taken issue with his spending, which has fueled a budget deficit in his office. They were angry when, late last month, Montgomery threatened to stop taking detainees to the hospital unless the city increased his budget.
But they thought they had settled at least that issue last week when Montgomery rescinded the threat in a public budget hearing.
They were not happy to hear things had changed.
鈥淚 would hope that鈥檚 not true,鈥 said Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who chairs the budget committee. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about people鈥檚 lives here.鈥
鈥淚f he鈥檚 not transporting prisoners,鈥 said Alderman Michael Browning, of Forest Park Southeast, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 a direct dereliction of his duty.鈥
Montgomery, 28, has been dogged by controversy almost since the moment he took office in January. He has been investigated for ordering the handcuffing of a top jail official, sued after telling a deputy to roll golden dice in order to keep his job and criticized for having a deputy .
He has also been grilled about the firing of more than a dozen senior officials, whose benefit payouts have fueled a budget deficit on track to hit $600,000 by the end of the year.
A watchdog group has called for his ouster.
But his threat last month to stop having deputies transport jail detainees to hospitals, a decades-old agreement by his predecessors, provoked one of the strongest reactions at City Hall.
Mayor Cara Spencer said he was abdicating his responsibility. Aldermen hauled him in for a hearing last Monday to chastise him for putting health care service at the jail at risk after years of problems and deaths.
Montgomery started that hearing by rescinding his threat on the condition that aldermen try to help him out. They said they would talk. Montgomery then said his threat was null and void.
鈥淚t does not exist anymore,鈥 he said.
But the next day, the jail asked for a transport, and Montgomery said no, said Brown, the city spokesperson.
Montgomery declined two more requests on Thursday, another on Friday, another on Saturday, and again on Monday, Brown said. Each time, city corrections staff handled the transport.
Brown said that鈥檚 not unheard of: Corrections staff have taken inmates to the hospital before when the sheriff鈥檚 department is understaffed.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 more sporadic than what鈥檚 happening now,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his is not the norm.鈥
The sheriff, she said, needs to fulfill his duty. Jail guards are needed at the jail, where severe understaffing is a well-known issue.
But Lawrence, one of the sheriff鈥檚 lawyers, said his department doesn鈥檛 have enough people, either, and needs a bigger budget.
He suggested looking at the jail鈥檚 allocation. There are dozens of vacant positions there, he said.
Still, he said, the sheriff鈥檚 office is doing its job.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got two of our deputies over there at the hospital right now,鈥 he said.
果酱视频 Sheriff Alfred Montgomery talks about terminations in his department due to a racist gang or clique running the office.
