U.S. Court Facilities
Circuit court inspector office area.
center, and central detention cellblock comprising a USMS district office or suboffice should
be located in contiguous space. These components should be located on or above the ground
floor or directly below the designated court floors to respond to emergency situations or to
provide direct egress to and from the area-of-refuge for the protection of the judiciary. Office
areas should have access to natural light.
The central detention cellblock should have direct service via secure detention elevators to the
USMS vehicle sallyport and courtroom holding cell areas on other floors. The route between
these three areas should be direct or connected by detention corridors. The central detention
cellblock should be located adjacent to the communications center and the general operations
squad room to monitor and control prisoner activity. The exact location of the central
detention cellblock within the facility will be determined by a weight load survey and may
require structural reinforcement.
The courtroom holding cells areas should be located directly adjacent to courtrooms and
serviced by prisoner elevators. Ideally, two courtrooms should be served by a holding area
comprising two small courtroom holding cells and a mutual prisoner sallyport which connects
directly to the courtrooms with no intervening spaces.
The administrative office area should be located contiguous to the public reception area, the
general operations squad room, and the central detention cellblock area. The public reception
area should be a secure vestibule separated from the USMS administrative office area by
partitions, counters, security glass, and doors and should restrict access to USMS office,
operational, and detention space. This space should be accessible directly from the public
lobbies or public corridors.
Witness security offices within courthouse facilities should be located in windowless interior
space and segregated from the public traffic. These offices should not be located at the
ground floor or the top floor.
Court security offices should be located adjacent to the building public lobby security check
point or adjacent to USMS operational space.
Page 32
April 5, 1996
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