By Denise Hollinshed
St.Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — When the oversized steel security doors clank shut at the St. Clair County Jail, the noise can be unnerving. But not for jail Superintendent Thomas Knapp. He knows he’s going home at the end of the day.
A 20-year veteran of the county jail, Knapp worked his way up through the ranks and was appointed superintendent just two months ago. He succeeded T.J. Collins, who retired in January after seven years on the job.
“It’s been a 20-year ride,” Knapp said as he strolled through the jail and headed to his office one day last week.
“I remember that first day just like yesterday,” he laughed. “It just hit me like - this is a jail, Tom, and here I was just out of college. What are you doing here? And then here I am 20 years later and I’m the superintendent of this place.”
Despite his early concerns, Knapp now says: “It’s been a good life so far.”
His dimly lit office is just outside the women’s cellblock. As he talked, an inmate rested with a gray blanket draped over her head. Her open-toed high-heeled sandals sat close to her bunk.
On that day, she was one of 433 inmates who were incarcerated on charges ranging from first-degree murder to a bench warrant for a MetroLink ticket. That’s 133 inmates over what is supposed to be the jail’s capacity, noted Knapp.
He would like to see a new jail built rather than adding on to this one, built in 1971.
Knapp estimates that it would cost at least $30 million to build a jail that could house the inmate population without crowding. He has been meeting with county officials about options for the jail.
“It’s too early to speculate,” he said of what might happen. “At least there is dialogue, but something needs to give.”
He said the jail’s crowded condition is “a big issue.”
And the general public, he says, has no clue about the life behind bars. It is a culture shock, as well as a loss of freedom, for many inmates. Being able to isolate inmates helps acclimate them when they come in, he said.
But for some inmates, nothing helps them settle in, Knapp says. “You are talking abut people who spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week trying to outsmart you,” he said.
He said more than 100 of the inmates - nearly a fourth of the jail population - have mental health issues and that that factor, compounded by the crowded conditions, creates a potential powder keg.
“This facility is not equipped to handle that many people with these kinds of problems,” he said.
Knapp, 42, attended Western Illinois University and is a few hours shy of a psychology degree. He is single and lives in Smithton instead of in the jail quarters where other superintendents have lived, including now-Sheriff Mearl Justus.
To describe the job stress, Knapp mentioned a female corrections officer who was on the job less than two weeks before she quit. Her background, he said, was in bank security, and her excuse for quitting was that “it was an ungodly workload.”
The jail has 72 staffers.
Knapp’s assistant superintendent is Capt. Phil McLaurin. He is a retired lieutenant colonel from Scott Air Force Base and was an assistant warden in two prisons in Indiana and Mississippi. McLaurin’s prison knowledge has been extremely helpful, Knapp said.
“He has taken over all of the operation,” Knapp said. “I still read all of the reports. I don’t spend that much time over the small stuff.”
Knapp says being jail superintendent keeps him on his toes.
“I know it has made me a smarter person,” he said.
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