Circuit Judge Clark Erickson hears the hardest criminal cases in Kankakee County, many of which result in long prison sentences and in the past even the death penalty.

It's always troubled him that four jurors and two alternates have difficulty actually seeing the face of a witness from where they sit.

"I hesitate to say this, but you do not have a proper view of a witnesses' face," Erickson said. "It's a jury's job to determine the credibility of witnesses. Do you want a loved one in that situation?"

That is not the only challenge a juror faces when called to duty at the historic 113-year-old courthouse located in the heart of downtown Kankakee.

Jurors have walked right by shackled defendants they are supposed to judge, spoken with outside parties about cases in the bathroom and have even been told to be quiet while deliberating. A sign in the jury room shared by two second-story courtrooms reads, "Quiet Please! Court is in Session."

The single, swinging door allows sound to pass both ways easily.

"There's a jury in there and they're supposed to be engaging and going back and forth, and I'm sending in a bailiff to tell them to be quiet," said Chief Judge Michael Kick, who shares the jury room with Circuit Judge Kendall Wenzelman.

The problems have been well documented for more than a decade in three major studies conducted by the National Center for State Courts and two professional architectural firms, which assessed the building based on standards established by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Then there are 159 violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act the Illinois Attorney General's office cited in 2012, many of which remain unresolved.

The solution county officials are seeking is a 1 percent public safety sales tax that would hike the county's state-minimum sales tax rate from 6.25 percent to 7.25 percent.

Voters will decide on the measure in November. It would generate an estimated $7.7 million annually not only to finance a new courthouse, but to avoid major cuts in public safety such as Kankakee County sheriff's police patrols.

The price tag is a whopping $113 million.

Preliminary plans include construction of a new, three-story courthouse, renovation of the existing courthouse and relocating other county offices there from 189 E. Court Street.

"We're not looking for a Taj Mahal," Erickson said.

<strong>Function over form</strong>

Bathrooms illustrate the story well. The new design created in preliminary plans includes private bathrooms in each of the judge's chambers. It might seem like a luxury, but there is as much purpose in the design of a courthouse as in the arguments judges hear in court.

"Right now, the judge is right next to the plaintiff or the defendant in the bathroom," said Robert Bohlmann, of RGB Architectural Group Inc. "There is no physical way to keep the judges separated from the inmates or separated from the public."

Providing an adequate facility to administer justice is a serious matter.

When Champaign County's aging courthouse had a major security incident, the Illinois Supreme Court promptly decertified it as a courthouse. If that happened here, the county would have no choice but to divert massive resources to the project at the expense of functions such as police patrols, Erickson said.

The ADA violations run the gamut from an elevator which is too small to the absence of wheelchair ramps for jury boxes. The county will be susceptible to lawsuits, including from the attorney general's office, if the problems aren't rectified.

Bohlman said the state surveyed the facility in 2012 after a person in a wheelchair was unable to get into the building. To date, the county has invested in accessibility, even if some of the changes were meant only to placate the attorney general's office.

Some of the office bathrooms, in particular, illustrate the point. Bars have been added to assist persons in wheelchairs at the toilet and the height of towel dispensers corrected to accommodate them. The only problem is the 100-year-old wooden door frames are too small for wheelchairs, and some even open to the inside.

"The reality is, you can't get a wheelchair in there," Wenzelman said. "It's not a practical, common sense benefit to anyone."

<strong>Security measures</strong>

The worst security breach at the Kankakee County Courthouse occurred several years ago when an inmate getting onto a corrections bus was stabbed multiple times by a man who waited outside the building to attack him. Wenzelman said the courthouse has come close to experiencing other major incidents, but guards fortunately were able to avert them.

The transport of inmates in unsecured areas inside the current courthouse is a problem as well.

They are often in contact with the public as guards must move them through public spaces. The most secure areas for holding are places such as Erickson's office annex, which was designed for law books rather than potentially dangerous people. Some jurors even sit within arm's length of unshackled inmates on the witness stand.

"There is always some risk attached to that," Erickson said.

The new design takes significant measures to ensure security.

Inmates would arrive after being transported from the county's detention facilities to a secured sallyport and would be kept at two holding areas within the building. There even is a separate corridor to move them to the courtrooms so they do not mix with the public.

All three judges said the project is long overdue.

"Will a judge 100 years from now speak about what a wonderful job this courthouse has done for the past 100 years?" Erickson asked. "We don't only need it, but it would be an important addition to the city of Kankakee and the county, and a source of pride for our community."