‘This is an embarrassment’: MKE County chief judge sounds off on 90-degree courtrooms
By TJ Dysart
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Judges at the Milwaukee County Courthouse are calling for an immediate replacement for the nearly 100-year-old safety building at the Milwaukee County Courthouse as extreme heat disrupts operations and threatens the legal process.
On Wednesday, as outdoor temperatures reached 93 degrees, conditions inside the courthouse safety building were nearly as hot.
“It is 95 degrees in the courtroom, you are sweating through your clothes, you can barely concentrate,” Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Laura Crivello said.
Courtrooms, jury rooms, and holding cells climbed into the 80s and 90s, with ceiling fans providing little relief.
“I am dripping sweat standing here,” Crivello said.
Inside Crivello’s jury room, where jurors deliberate on cases, the temperature hit 81 degrees Wednesday afternoon.
“This is unacceptable, this is unacceptable,” she said.
Chief Judge Carl Ashley expressed concern about the impact on jurors.
“You expect jurors to come in here and deliberate Judge Crivello’s cases, which are so serious, and we stuff them in this room and tell them to do that,” Ashley said.
In a nearby holding room, where up to five defendants wait for their cases to be called, the temperature reached 89 degrees.
Ashley and Crivello said the heat highlights the urgent need for major improvements to the courthouse.
“We have the opportunity to provide this new facility that is going to really provide what we should expect from any judicial facility, and that is good accommodations, and this is not it,” Ashley said.
County leaders have proposed tearing down and replacing the safety building, a project estimated to cost nearly $900 million. They are seeking state assistance to reduce the financial burden on taxpayers, warning that delays will only increase costs.
“We want the project done. Do we have to shave here and there? Maybe so, but the ultimate goal is to get this new facility,” Ashley said.
After decades of issues, Ashley emphasized the need for immediate action.
“If someone says to you, ‘Well, do it later,’ what a statement to the people who work in this building, the people who have to come to this building. It’s not fair, it is not justified, and we are finally at a point where we can do something about it,” he said.
While the project is still in its early stages, a financing proposal is expected to come before the county later this year.
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