LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thousands of people walk through the doors of the Hall of Justice each day. It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One the lower floors houses 17 District Courtrooms, Judicial Chambers, Office of the Circuit Court Clerk, Office of the County Attorney, Sheriff’s Department and Pretrial Services. The upper floors house Metro Corrections inmates.
It's the busiest building in the state, and the fire alarms inside are broken and have been that way for two years.
The building was built in the 1970s, and people who use the building can remember years of concerns.
“There was accumulation of black mold that was apparent from the vents of the ceiling in the courtrooms of the hall of justice,” lawyer Thomas Clay said. “They were concerned about the number of judges who had contracted cancer who had worked in the Hall of Justice ... There were also complaints of sewage being leaked into the lower levels of the Hall of Justice where inmates were housed.”
WDRB News obtained documents which call the escalators inside the building a "safety concern" and “out of code.”
The first floor escalators inside the Louisville Metro Hall of Justice
“Safety is a concern when the escalators stop, if lucky enough that no one is injured in the jarring, sudden stop, the top and bottom treads are generally at odd and inconsistent heights,” the memo says.
Now, Metro Facilities Project Management Assistant Director Mark Zoeller said the fire alarms in the building is out of service.
A $100,000 project is underway to replace 450 fire alarms.
“It started in 2017, and we are a bit frustrated that it’s not complete yet,” Zoeller said. “Earlier this year, we switched contractors on the job, because we wanted to get it done quicker.”
The Louisville Fire Department said the building is actually in compliance. It’s on fire watch, meaning a person walks around to make sure the building isn’t on fire.
The Louisville Metro Hall of Justice
A fire was discovered last Wednesday morning after lint caught fire inside a drying machine on the fourth floor. Witnesses said the fire alarm didn’t sound. Staff walked around and told people in the building there was an active fire, and someone called the fire department to put it out, according to one witness who didn't want to be identified.
“Everything is in compliance with the LFD Fire Prevention Bureau, as long as the Sheriff’s Department maintains the 24/7 fire watch to initiate fire department response in the event of an alarm/fire until system updates/repairs are complete,” Maj. Bobby Cooper said.
“Besides our dedicated fire watch, there are also sheriffs in the building continuously,” Zoeller added. “So we would hope we could address anything that came up as quickly as we could and evacuate it.”
But for some who regularly spend hours of their day inside, they say the building is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
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