How did the changing architecture of jails reflect prison reform in St. Louis? Time and time again, reformers have tried to cloak jails in beautiful architecture, hiding the actual purpose of the building. Emil Boehl, Four Courts, 12th and Clark Recent events at the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis raise the question: How did we get here? Over the millennia in Western civilization, the act of detaining suspects has evolved as the time in which they're confined before a trial has lengthened. The founding of the United States on Enlightenment principles further developed the concept of âhumane confinement.â The city of St. Louis likewise has seen a succession of jails over the course of the past two centuries that mirror the evolution of criminal justice in America and the action and reaction against perceived past abuses.