Statement from the Family of Christopher Brown

On August 8, 2019, we got the worst news a parent can receive. We learned that our son, Christopher Brown, had died in the Workhouse, a St. Louis City jail long known for its hellish and inhumane conditions. We have several concerns and questions surrounding his death, and those worries only compound our grief.  

It has been over a month and we’ve heard nothing from the City helping us to understand why our son is gone. He was only 35 years old. Chris was a loving son, partner, and father.  There are three young children who are now forced to grow up without sharing another laugh, hug, birthday or Christmas with their dad. From the stories Chris has told us about the Workhouse, we know it is an unsafe, terrifying place, that forces mainly poor people to suffer unjustly for months or even years before getting their day in court. When Chris was there in 2018, he was beaten, violated, and denied adequate medical care. He waited months in the Workhouse to have his case resolved. After he got out, it was harder for him to get a job that paid above minimum wage and provide for his kids.  Chris was never the same after his first stay at the Workhouse. It seemed like they had broken his spirit. He lost all his self-confidence. Then, when he was picked up again this summer, he died there.  It is hard to put into words how difficult it is to see your child suffering, and not have community resources to get him better and on track. The Workhouse didn’t rehabilitate Chris, or make him healthier, or less likely to be homeless, or less likely to use drugs. In fact, it made all of his current problems worse. Jails, especially the Workhouse, are part of the problem, not the solution. In the wake of this painful loss, we want the public to know that while he made some mistakes, Chris did not deserve to die. Rather than locking him up, we wish there would have been resources available for him to get counseling, drug treatment and other recovery services he needed. We are speaking out because there are many other people suffering just like Chris did, who need help, not incarceration. While we can no longer do anything to help our son, we cannot remain silent and let others suffer. Everyday St. Louis city taxpayers pour millions of dollars into a building that needs to be shut down, rather than invest resources in the types of community supports that could have saved Chris’s life. 

We call on the City to re-imagine public safety. We call on the City for answers. We call on the City for justice for Chris. We stand firmly with the Close the Workhouse campaign and support the permanent closure of the Workhouse. For anyone who is hearing about the Workhouse for the first time, we encourage you to learn more through the CTW report which is available online at www.closetheworkhouse.org. If you want to join us in supporting the Close the Workhouse campaign, come to the next Court Monitoring Meeting on Wednesday, September 18th from 6-8pm at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being (1000 N. Vandeventer), and to the next Movement Meeting on Thursday, October 3rd at 6pm (same location). See CtW's Facebook for more information. ###