Ex-jail guard in St Louis faces prison time after beating

A former St. Louis jail guard has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for allowing two detainees to beat another inmate in his cell last year.

Demeria Thomas, 39, was sentenced Tuesday after she pleaded guilty in February to depriving an inmate of his civil rights while she worked at the St. Louis Justice Center, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

As part of the plea, Thomas admitted that in March 2021, she unlocked the inmate’s cell and allowed two men to punch and kick him. She also kept other inmates from intervening. The attack, which was captured on jail surveillance video, left the inmate with a broken jaw, which went untreated for three days.

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Thomas still faces a felony charge of third-degree assault in St. Louis Circuit Court, as do the two inmates accused in the attack.