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ST. LOUIS — To describe the convoluted legal position Janis Mensah is in, attorney Maureen Hanlon turned to Greek mythology.

Hanlon, with the nonprofit law firm , represents Mensah, who has served as both chair and vice chair of the city’s Detention Facilities Oversight Board.

The board is supposed to keep an eye on the City Justice Center, where 11 detainees have died in the past two years.

In August 2023, the board chair at the time, Rev. Darryl Gray, received a tip that somebody died at the jail. Gray emailed board members. Mensah, vice chair at the time, got off work and went to the jail to try to ascertain what happened.

Jail Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah refused Mensah access to the facility. Mensah wasn’t allowed to view any video, or speak to detainees, or perform an inspection. Instead, after Mensah had waited in the lobby for several hours, Clemons-Abdullah called the police and had Mensah arrested. Police also accused Mensah of resisting arrest. Both charges were issued in municipal court as violations of city ordinances.

In December, Hanlon filed a motion to dismiss the charges, and another motion to disqualify the city counselor’s office from prosecuting the case. Why? Because the city counselor’s office also represents the jail oversight board, on which Mensah was serving when the charges were filed.

“This case presents an unusual — and highly inappropriate — case where the City Counselor’s Office of the City of St. Louis is both purporting to represent members of the Detention Facilities Oversight Board in their task to provide oversight of the City Jails but is also prosecuting the Vice Chair of the board for actions taken when attempting to conduct said oversight,� Hanlon wrote in her motion. “This has set up the Gordian Knot in which the City’s Board Vice-Chair was attempting to conduct oversight prescribed by City legislation that the City Counselor’s office was advising them on; while doing so, the City’s Jail Commissioner then called the police; the City’s police officers arrested the City’s Board Vice-Chair; and now the same City Counselor’s office is seeking municipal charges against the City’s Board Vice-Chair.�

In Greek mythology, the person who could untie the complex Gordian Knot would have the power to rule over all of Asia. Legend has it that Alexander the Great, rather than untie the knot, used his sword to cut it in half.

It’s an approach the administration of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones could learn from. Jones once backed the jail oversight board, at least in concept. But as problems at the jail have grown, and calls for Clemons-Abdullah’s resignation mounted, City Counselor Sheena Hamilton used the power of her office to stand in the way of the oversight board.

One of the ways Hamilton ties the board in a knot is through secrecy. For instance, when issuing legal opinions to the board — as well as aldermen and other city commissions — she includes in bold, all-capital letters that the information is confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege.

Mensah received more than one such a letter when previously serving as board chair. Now the city counselor is prosecuting the person whom just months ago was referred to as the city counselor’s “client.�

“It’s pretty mind-boggling,� Hanlon says. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.�

A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 5. The city counselor’s office has yet to respond to Hanlon’s arguments.

In the meantime, with frustration over the inability of board members to do their jobs, Mensah and fellow member Mike Milton resigned in December. Both blame Jones for allowing the jail commissioner and city counselor to block oversight at a time when far too many people are dying in jail.

“I got into this position thinking this was a genuine effort by the city,� Mensah says. “It felt like, as people kept dying, the city shifted from wanting public transparency and civilian oversight to being on the defensive and trying to protect the city from litigation.�

Now the city is tying itself in knots trying to prosecute a board member for trying to do the oversight for which they were appointed.

It’s a Greek tragedy awaiting its final act.