Longtime advocate for prison reform dies at 85

ST. LOUIS -- Ann Carter Stith found good in everyone, even in her work on behalf of prisoners.

"I never met a really evil person in all my visits to prisons," Stith, a longtime advocate for prison reform, education and clean government, told the Ethical Society of St. Louis in 2000, when she was named Humanist of the Year. "There was always a humanity there."

Stith, 85, died early Thursday at her home in St. Louis of cancer, her family said.

Stith served on numerous task forces, community agency boards, federal commissions.

"She was a wonderful, wonderful citizen," former U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I never knew a man or woman who could devote their time to the public interest like she could."

Stith was on a St. Louis County grand jury that investigated allegations of government corruption. The jury found that citizens seeking zoning changes would buy or make bids on insurance, law services, or real estate tied to the councilmen. Then the zoning changes would be approved.

She was part of the Board of Jail Visitors that published a series of scathing reports on conditions at the St. Louis County Jail. When a different committee recommended a new jail for juvenile offenders, Stith was again chosen to help win voter approval for the $2 million bond issue that would pay for it. The bond issue passed.

Stith sought alternatives to imprisonment and criminal court reform, but also worked for crime victims. She was appointed to the committee that oversaw the desegregation of St. Louis public schools. She attended the Democratic National Convention of 1976.

"The list of her endeavors to make St. Louis a better place in which to live and work is almost endless," Eagleton said. "She was a friend of the poor, of the elderly and the forgotten. We will not forget her."

Survivors include her husband, Richard T. Stith Jr., three daughters, one son, 10 grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by one daughter.

A memorial service will be at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at Graham Chapel at Washington University.