Officials have released footage from a Missouri jail showing inmates rioting after tensions over phone service, Wi-Fi problems, and time spent outside their cells boiled over.
The incident happened on February 7, 2026, at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in St. Louis County, where 34 inmates refused to return to their cells, according to local reporting and the county’s investigation.
Officials said the disturbance began as a dispute over dayroom time, phone access, and Wi-Fi connectivity, with staffing shortages limiting how long inmates could remain outside their cells.
County officials later released surveillance footage and a lengthy investigative report into the event, which unfolded around 5pm and was described as a mass refusal to lock down before escalating into a full housing-unit disturbance.
Officials said inmates were demanding ” their full 15 minutes of dayroom time” after being released from their cells later than expected.
“This incident shows how unpredictable conditions are inside a jail and how important the role corrections officers play,” Captain Tim Ware, acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services said.
“The discontent of residents that resulted in this incident is all due to our understaffing in corrections officers which required limitations on the residents’ movements.”
Ware said the jail’s staffing shortages have had a direct impact on operations, including the amount of time people can spend out of their cells. At full staffing, he said, inmates could spend much longer in common areas each day, but on short-staffed shifts that can be reduced to only a few hours.
Officials also said the report found that corrections officers left the housing unit during the disturbance, allowing inmates to take control of the area. The county said the incident should have been handled differently and that the response has already led to policy reviews and other changes.
FOX 2 reported that officers used pepper spray on the 34 inmates after repeated orders to lock down were ignored.
Footage now circulating online appears to show inmates pushing furniture in front of an entrance after correctional officers removed equipment from the housing unit when efforts to calm the situation failed.
At one point, a basketball is thrown at a surveillance camera in what appeared to be an attempt to knock it down.
Officials then said a chemical agent was deployed to regain control of the area.
Ware said that, out of the 34 inmates involved, “four main actors and criminal charges have been turned over to the Clayton Police Department and to the prosecutor for review”.
County records show the damage total exceeded $30,800, with broken televisions, a commissary kiosk, a mounted camera, and other property damaged during the disturbance.
No serious injuries or hospital stays were reported following the incident.
In the weeks after the disturbance, county leaders also approved emergency funding for medical services, while jail officials said they are still trying to fill roughly 80 open correctional officer positions.
Ware said the priority now is preventing a similar disturbance from happening again, with the jail reviewing policies, increasing training, and stepping up recruitment efforts.