And when the elevator doors open up, spilling us out onto our floor, the fact that no one is bloodied or even in tears, it's a small, pleasing reminder that we're all in this together. I like to think that we can all stand so close to one another, with our sensible heels, and Timberland boots, and American flag lapel pins, and fake eyelashes, and Axe cologne, and orthopedic inserts, and teardrop tattoos, and to-go coffees. When I'm feeling optimistic I appreciate that an elevator car in a government building is one of the few places left in our country where different kinds of people are forced into proximity. Sometimes, those families are one in the same. The elevator mainstays, of course, are crime victims and their families, and defendants and their families. Maybe they chat for a few floors with the officers from the sheriff's department, in search of a coffee and a muffin.ĭefense attorneys are riding up and down all morning, muttering to each other, can you believe?, griping about judges who have their own judge elevators, so they're not overhearing. The court stenographers, always courteous, drag their squat wheelie cases on and off the elevator. Detectives wearing lanyards often get off on the ninth floor where the prosecutor's office is. And the higher floors, starting about halfway up the building, are for felonies. The lower floors are for lesser crimes, less hallowed proceedings-misdemeanors, housing court. Once they get a court date they're riding up to one of the courtroom floors. They get booked, go up a few floors to the jail. Weary cops escort suspects from the underground parking garage. If a person's arrested in Cleveland, they're coming into the Justice Center from the basement. The main court tower is 26 stories high, so the elevator really runs the place. Roughly speaking, the building functions like most hierarchies-vertically. The Justice Center houses in one location everything a justice system needs-the city and county courts, the county jail, prosecutor's offices, the sheriff's office, and headquarters for the Cleveland police. I could hedge here, but I'm just going to say it-the buildings are hideous, but practical. It's a cluster of concrete towers built in the 1970s. The Justice Center in Cleveland, Ohio, takes up a whole city block downtown.
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March 2023
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