May 6, 2025
(St. Louis, MO) – After waging a seven-year legal opposition, attorneys for St. Louis City have agreed to settle with thousands of individuals exposed to harmful conditions while detained inside of the City’s former Medium Security Institution (MSI) (“Workhouse”) jail. The terms of the settlement, which were reached in February 2025 after extensive negotiations, are still subject to the court’s review and approval.
Data from the jail shows that at least 16,000 people are impacted by the class action. If the court approves the settlement, the process to submit a claim will open. Due to the volume of people impacted by this case and subsequent announcements, ArchCity Defenders has created a website for individuals seeking information about the settlement: www.stlclassactions.com
If the court approves, individuals who were jailed at the Workhouse for five days or more between November 13, 2012, until the jail’s closure in June 2022 may be eligible to file a claim to receive money. The settlement funds will be split up based on how many days each class member was in the Workhouse. Additionally, the City agrees that the Workhouse will not be used in the future as a housing facility for pretrial detainees or post-conviction detainees. “I am happy that the lawsuit is finally over, and I am happy that people are not going to be held in that place. It was a horrible place. They treat dogs at the shelter better than they treated us. It’s nice to be compensated with the settlement, but I can’t get back any of the time that I was dealing with being locked up and being away from my kids in that unsuitable environment,” said Jasmine Borden, a Plaintiff and class representative.
“Historically, there are few points in time when the City wasn’t facing investigation and litigation for the horrors that occurred inside MSI since its construction in 1966. Thanks to the organizing efforts of impacted individuals, and the courage and patience of the Plaintiffs in this Cody case, the Workhouse has been demolished and over 16,000 people are eligible to receive money,” said Nathaniel Carroll, ArchCity Defenders Senior Staff Attorney and lead counsel for Plaintiffs.
“The demolition is a tangible outcome, and the settlement money represents a symbolic victory for impacted individuals. This wasn’t the first lawsuit that forced the City to reconcile the harms in the Workhouse; but it is hopefully the last.”
ArchCity Defenders brought “the Workhouse Case,” James Cody, et al. v. City of St. Louis (No. 4:17-cv-2707), on November 13, 2017. For decades, the facility was plagued with insects, rodents, mold, broken plumbing fixtures, sewage backup, and non-existent or inadequate heating and cooling. In summer months, temperatures inside reached triple digits. In July 2017, people were heard from inside the Workhouse pleading for relief. ArchCity Defenders and Action St. Louis responded by raising money, and working with community volunteers to post bail for about twenty people. Those individuals shared their experiences with ArchCity Defenders which became the basis for the lawsuit.
Throughout the course of the litigation, plaintiffs overcame numerous roadblocks: discovery was withheld for extended periods and thousands of pages of documents were scattered inside of a moldy storage container. Defendants made several appeals, causing years-long delays. Following an appellate challenge to the case’s class action status in 2023, about 50 community members joined plaintiffs and attorneys at the oral argument in 2024 to demonstrate to the appellate panel the significance of this matter to the local community.
In addition to the litigation, plaintiffs inspired the launch of the Close the Workhouse (CTW) campaign in April 2018, which resulted in widespread engagement, mobilization, and series of successes. In 2021, the City defunded the annual operating cost of the jail, and since 2022, it has remained empty. Prompted by the campaign, the City engaged in a process to gather community input on the future of the site. The findings were released in a 2023 report and provide a blueprint for preventing and addressing root causes of harm. Specifically, the community envisions an offsite hub that centralizes community resources and services, and an onsite dedication memorializing the individuals and generations of primarily Black St. Louisans who have been harmed by the Workhouse and the underlying criminal legal system.
ArchCity Defenders has filed 55 lawsuits between 2014 to 2024, alleging unlawful practices in 20 municipalities spanning across eight counties. As of May 2025, 42 cases settled or resulted in damages after trial, six were dismissed, and seven remain pending. In total, defendants have had to pay $27.2 million in monetary damages to thousands of people impacted by systemic abuses sanctioned by local governments through their systems of police, courts, and jails.
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In the past fifteen years, ArchCity Defenders, a holistic legal advocacy organization, has grown from its three founders volunteering part-time to a full-time staff of 36 that provides direct services to people entangled by the legal system while also challenging its inherent injustice through resource provision, representation, litigation, media and policy advocacy, and community organizing. Visit www.archcitydefenders.org to learn more and follow ACD on social media for regular updates.
Media Contact:
Z Gorley, Director of Communications, ArchCity Defenders
zgorley@archcitydefenders.org
(314) 643-2463