ST. LOUIS – The effort to close the St. Louis Workhouse has been dealt a setback because of COVID and the recent unrest at the downtown Justice Center.

St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed says it would be irresponsible to close the Medium Security Institution.

The recent unrest at the downtown jail caused the city to send some of the inmates from the Justice Center to The Workhouse.

Reed led the board of aldermen to pass a bill last year calling on the city to have a plan to close The Workhouse by Dec. 31. Now that date has come and gone with no such plan.

FOX 2 spoke with Jamala Rogers, a representative with the Organization for Black Struggle, which has been pushing to close The Workhouse. Rogers says this another example of officials going back on their word.

Rogers says activists weren’t demanding an immediate shutdown but did want a reasonable plan to phase out the jail facility. Now they apparently won’t even get that.

But Reed says The Workhouse won’t be closed until the COVID crisis ends.