A 32-year-old man died around 6 p.m. Saturday at the Hazelwood Police Department jail after workers found him unresponsive in his cell. He had been in custody since earlier that same day, arrested on charges of domestic assault.
Police said an initial investigation indicates the man died by suicide, according to St. Louis Public Radio. The St. Louis County Police Bureau of Crimes Against Persons is now investigating the case, the station reports.
The death is the latest in a series of custody deaths across St. Louis County, per the same report. At least seven people have died in custody at the county justice center in Clayton since 2020, the station notes, a tally that adds to a troubling pattern local officials have tracked for years.
A Pattern Officials Have Flagged Before
The county has grappled with this issue before. A 2021 St. Louis County Council resolution stated that twelve people had died in custody at the St. Louis County Justice Center over the preceding decade, including six between 2015 and 2016 and five in 2019 alone, according to county council records.
Following a September 2020 hearing, the county council's Justice, Health, and Welfare Committee unanimously recommended a comprehensive external investigation of the county's Department of Justice Services, the same council document shows.
At least six people at the St. Louis County Justice Center have died since 2020.
How St. Louis County Compares
The broader regional picture shows custody deaths extending beyond county lines. Separately, at least 22 people have died in custody at the St. Louis City Justice Center since 2020, according to the St. Louis American, which reported that public records showed some of those deaths were linked to health conditions while others were ruled suicides or overdoses.
It remains unclear whether the Hazelwood jail is counted among the figures tied to the county justice center in Clayton, and the discrepancy between reports of five and at least seven deaths there since 2020 has not been explained in available reporting. St. Louis County detectives are investigating Saturday's death.
