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Under Indictment: Is the Condition of Your Grand Jury Suite a Crime?

by Matt Hemphill / May 12, 2016

 

 

The grand jury is an integral and important component of the American judicial process. Unfortunately, providing appropriate accommodations for the grand jury is not a high priority in many existing courthouses. How does a courthouse demonstrate its recognition of the grand jury’s importance? And can anything be done if you find the need to improve upon existing conditions?  This can be addressed during the courthouse planning process.

Secret agents in the pursuit of justice

The grand jury process has always fascinated me. Grand jury decisions are frequently mentioned in sensational cases in the media where they are dramatically described as the major step in bringing criminals to justice. Once the grand jury decides that there is enough evidence to bring an individual to trial, things must be heating up! What an important job it is to be a member of a grand jury; to be at the virtual center of the judicial process. Like secret agents, their identity is unknown, their proceedings are discreet, and their decisions will markedly enhance the pursuit of justice.

No respect

Nevertheless, I have been designing court spaces and evaluating courthouse conditions, inclusive of grand jury suites, for quite a few years, and it never ceases to amaze me that the suite where these deliberations occur does not always reflect the important work that goes on inside. Sometimes, the accommodations in older courthouse are little more than an oversized closet—certainly not facilities that display a level of respect commensurate with the critical decision-making occurring within.

How does the process work?

There are usually between 16 and 23 jurors who sit on a grand jury panel, typically for several days per week, and for a duration of up to twelve months in some jurisdictions. Alternate jurors may also be present. The jurors’ job is to examine the evidence and hear the arguments presented by the prosecution to determine whether cases should proceed on to the next step—a trial. They could consider several separate investigations in a single day!

Interestingly, there is no judge involved in the actual proceedings, unless a procedural issue arises. Otherwise, the judge is merely informed of the grand jury’s decision. The evidence is presented by the prosecution team in the form of exhibits and recorded testimony, and sometimes, by live witnesses. The proceedings are recorded by a court stenographer or an electronic recording device, and the records are sealed for confidentiality.

As would be expected, this process could be draining, both physically and emotionally.

What makes a well-designed grand jury suite?

A grand jury suite should include all of the spaces and facilities necessary to comfortably complete the task at hand. The focus of the suite is the hearing room that must seat all of the grand jurors, ideally in a tiered arrangement for better visibility. The jury room should contain a small bench for the jury foreperson and a desk area for the court stenographer when needed, both at the front of the hearing room. Seating for a witness should also be provided at the front of the hearing room.

A small break area and dedicated restrooms are essential to allow comfortable isolation during long grand jury sessions. An office for prosecutors to coordinate and plan the evidence presentation should also be included in the suite, as well as a desk for a security officer. Separate waiting rooms for witnesses and a holding cell for prisoners that are brought in to testify complete the core facilities.

The grand jury suite should be inconspicuously located in the courthouse, near the prosecutor’s office, and adjacent to the secure circulation path to allow safe transport of prisoners that are to testify. The suite’s perimeter should be acoustically sealed to prevent sound transmission. Infra-red “scramblers” can also be used in the hearing room to prevent remote listening devices from picking up the proceedings.

The grand jury suite shown in the following plan depicts a nearly ideal layout for a newly designed suite.

Grand Jury Suite Layout - Fentress Inc.

 

Why doesn’t the grand jury suite always get the respect it deserves?

Through many years of on-site courthouse inspections, I have found that the predominant reason that a grand jury has been relegated to deficient space in an existing courthouse is because it has lost its original, well-designed space to the construction of an additional courtroom that was required in the courthouse. Since the grand jury space is relatively large and connects to secure circulation, it is a prime candidate to be renovated to provide an additional courtroom. When this replacement occurs, there is typically no other suitable space in the courthouse to relocate and provide a true grand jury suite. Even when there is available space, funding to complete both projects may not be available.

As a result, the grand jury is left to conduct its crucial business in uncomfortable conditions. I have seen grand jury spaces in older – and particularly historic courthouses – squeezed into tiny basement spaces with no more than a conference table. In these situations, the jurors are required to use the public restrooms and are provided no break areas. Grand jury spaces such as this are not outfitted with tiered seating or any of the other necessary support spaces.

The grand jury suite shown in the following photos not only lacks support facilities, but is also disorganized and obviously very poorly maintained.

Grand Jury Suite Example - Fentress Inc.

Grand Jury Suite Example 2 - Fentress Inc.

In some instances, in the absence of suitable space, courtrooms are used for grand jury proceedings. Unfortunately, this solution can interfere with the principal use of the courtroom.

Lack of respect sometimes comes back to bite you

In addition to the deficient accommodations that are apparent in the following photo of a grand jury suite, this basement room also proved to be problematic for maintaining confidentiality. As explained to me by the deputy prosecutor with whom I toured the space, the suite was located on a narrow public hallway near a second point of controlled access to the courthouse. Public traffic passed by the suite sufficiently close to the door so that jury discussions could be faintly heard in the hallway. This required an extra guard to be stationed in front of the door when the grand jury was in session; solely to keep people from stopping there and listening to the proceedings.

Grand Jury Suite Example 3 - Fentress Inc.

Solutions? They are hard to come by, but there are a few

There are two problems inherent in providing an appropriate grand jury suite in an existing courthouse where one is not already in place:

  • Grand jury suites require a lot of space, and available space is often allocated to high priority uses like courtrooms or judge’s chambers.
  • Grand jury suites, due to the need for isolation of the proceedings, do not lend themselves to being shared as part of a multi-purpose facility such as a training room or lunch room.

The bottom line is that to provide an appropriate grand jury suite, sufficient space must be made available in the courthouse through a reduction in the amount of space allocated to other functions. This is difficult but not impossible. Creative solutions could include courtroom sharing, a greater emphasis on alternative dispute resolution, the use of collegial chambers, and file room reduction through implementation of electronic case filing are just some of the techniques that can be employed to reduce space requirements.

In fact, we were able to improve the basement grand jury suite that was prone to confidentiality using exactly this approach.

Following my site assessment, the court decided that it was time to correct the obvious deficiency. Until recently, there had been no apparent available expansion space in the courthouse. However, with the recent adoption of electronic case filing the clerk’s office was finding that their need for file space was diminishing. As a result, we were able to establish a time frame for when there would be a sufficient quantity of space to construct a suitable grand jury suite in what would become a large vacant file room on an upper floor of the courthouse.

A simple answer

Maybe the answer to the question “Why doesn’t the grand jury suite always get the respect it deserves?” is simpler than I may have thought. Perhaps, given the fact that the grand jury is such a secretive group of people, one might conclude that even if there is displeasure with their space, it is never discussed. Maybe like true secret agents, even their complaints remain classified.

Tags: Courthouse Planning

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Matt Hemphill

Matt Hemphill

During Matt’s career, he has been involved in many successful projects and facility types, such as courthouses, land ports of entry, hospitals, outpatient medical office buildings, assisted living facilities, and general office space for large corporations. Matt enjoys music and running, and likes to cook.