The St. Louis County Jail in Clayton.
Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
CLAYTON — Fifty-five employees of the St. Louis County Jail told the County Council in a letter on Tuesday that their staff was “on the verge of imploding” because of a hostile work environment and mistreatment by Director Raul Banasco.
Council Chairwoman Lisa Clancy said Tuesday the allegations, read into the record at the council’s regular meeting, were “weighing heavy on me” and she wanted the council to gather more information through its Justice, Health and Welfare committee. The Justice Services Advisory Board is also expected to take up the issue at its regular meeting on Friday.
Banasco could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
County Executive Sam Page hired Banasco in November after a national search to restore professionalism to a facility that experienced a series of inmate deaths last year. The county had not had a permanent director since the retirement of Herbert Bernsen in early 2018.
Banasco had been a former jail administrator at county jails in San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas, and also worked in the Florida prison system. In 2016, the American Jail Association named him jail administrator of the year.
Raul Banasco will take over as St. Louis County’s new director of justice services on Nov. 25, 2019.
The letter signed by uniformed officers from every rank up to major — as well as case workers, human resources employees, IT specialists and other staff — portrayed a workforce at its breaking point.
“Understand that many of us have worked here 15, 20, 25 years or more and have worked under numerous leaders,” the employees wrote in letter that was read into the record at the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the current director has created a situation that we can no longer tolerate nor sit idle while he destroys and undermines the operations for his own pleasure because he can and because he has been allowed to do so.”
The employees alleged that Banasco has manipulated the hiring process and tampered with promotional lists, attempted to “bribe” underlings and buy loyalty using salary adjustments and “displays obvious favoritism.” And he has outbursts, fits of anger and tantrums while communicating in a “threatening and intimidating manner.”
The employees said they were prepared to show examples and proof of their claims and asked county leaders to “understand that Mr. Banasco is a real liability to our Department and to the County Executive.”
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August 26, 2020 at 04:45PM
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Jail mismanagement, hostile work environment blasted by St. Louis County jailers - STLtoday.com
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