The Medium Security Institution, commonly referred to as The Workhouse, was a medium-security penitentiary located in St. Louis, Missouri, and was owned and operated by the municipal department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Opened in 1966, the prison was long controversial for its poorly ventilated rooms, debt bondage, inadequate food, forced labor, and other human rights violations.

[2] Built in 1966, the prison gained its nickname "The Workhouse" from an 1840s city ordinance that allowed forced labor as a punishment for criminals sentenced in law court who couldn't pay their fines.

On July 4, 2018, Close the Workhouse, a prison-abolition group, held demonstrations outside city hall to protest the inhumane conditions of the prison.

[12][13][14][15] In 2021, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones proposed closing the Workhouse on her first day in office.