Lawsuit alleges misuse of detainees by St. Louis correctional officers

(AP) – A federal lawsuit accuses St. Louis correctional officers of putting jail detainees in a room and spraying so much Mace that they struggled to breathe. The lawsuit alleges that other inmates at the downtown City Justice Center were beaten or denied water as punishment, sometimes for days. The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on behalf of detainees Derrick Jones, Jerome Jones and Darnell Rusan. It names the city, Corrections Commissioner Dale Glass, City Justice Center Superintendent Adrian Barnes and several correctional officers. It seeks unspecified damages and a court order prohibiting unconstitutional treatment of detainees.