AC out in some parts of Juvenile Court
Temps hit 95 in some areas of the building
The Commercial Appeal
Russianikki Taylor held her three-month old daughter, Kailani, on Thursday inside Shelby County Juvenile Court where the air conditioning was broken in parts of the building, and temperatures outside had climbed to 95.
Taylor, 30, said the air conditioning needs to be fixed.
“There’s no air. She’s irritated,” Taylor said referring to her daughter.
Juvenile Court Chief Administrative Officer Pam Skelton said the court’s HVAC vendor has been parked outside working to get things fixed for two weeks.
“Some of our units are old and they’re having trouble keeping up,” Skelton said.
Skelton said the units inside the courtrooms are having the most difficulty, leaving many of them very warm.
“We have fans in there now, and we’re working on getting some portable units in there,” she said. “We are keeping a close check on our detention facility and so far everything’s been fine in there,” she said.
The Shelby County Support Services division and its HVAC vendor were working to fix the problem and bottled water was available in affected courtrooms, according to a statement released by Juvenile Court Thursday.
“It’s working in various areas of the building,” said Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Chief Kirk Fields. “Detention is not really affected right now.”
In August 2012, the air conditioning went out inside the detention center. After temperatures climbed into the 80s at night, officials were forced to transport nearly 50 teens to nearby adult jail at the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar. The youths were held in a separate area.
Defense attorney Mark Mesler, who was at Juvenile Court on Wednesday, said the fans had to be turned off to hear witness testimony.
“It was pretty warm, but Judge (Dan) Michael did his best to make us more comfortable,” Mesler said.
Herman Williams, 56, came to court on Thursday for his nephew. Waiting in the main hallway of the building’s first floor as fans blew, Williams said the court seemed to be doing a good job keeping the building cool.
“Is it broken?” he said when asked about the air conditioning.
Juvenile Court is under federal monitoring. On Dec. 17, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice entered into an agreement with the court to address conditions of confinement at the court’s detention center and the court’s administration of justice.
The DOJ found discrimination against AfricanAmerican children, unsafe conditions of confinement and failures to provide due process to youth appearing for proceedings. In a June report, Michael Leiber, of the University of South Florida, who monitors equal protection, wrote that black youth are still overrepresented and “race continues to explain case outcomes even after taking into consideration relevant legal factors, such as crime severity, crime type, etc.”