Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The Supreme Court building, downtown Kingston, which is badly in need of a facelift.
THE SUPREME Court building on King Street, downtown Kingston, which was refurbished 14 years ago with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has become an eyesore once again.
Members of the court staff have again complained about the deplorable conditions in which they have to work.
The main building has not been painted within the last 10 years and walls which were painted white have now become black with dirt and the paint is peeling in some areas. The green louvre windows in a courtroom next door to the Chief Justice's Court have rotted and are falling out.
The only clean area on the building is the office for the judges' secretaries. The secretaries, with the assistance of a few judges, bought paint and painted their office on Labour Day this year.
"I would never give a cent to buy paint because it is the government's business to paint the building and keep the surroundings clean," said one judge last week on hearing about the secretaries' Labour Day project.
"It is extremely uncomfortable to work in the dirty office," a secretary said, explaining that it was for that reason that they had pooled resources and given their section a facelift.
A member of staff reported that yesterday morning two visitors to the courthouse had commented on the "dirty" state of the building . He quoted one of the visitors as commenting that "this is a nice strong building but the walls need to be painted and the floors properly cleaned".
According to an employee there, thousands of dollars are collected daily in fines at the Gun Court section of the building and the money should be used to maintain the building.
Lawyers have often remarked on the state of the building and have even suggested that prisoners could be used to paint the building.
The Supreme Court building was in a deplorable condition in the 1970s. The Hon. Edward Zacca, the then Chief Justice, and Winston Spaulding, former Minister of National Security, sought the assistance of the US Agency for International Development in the refurbishing the island's courthouses. The USAID assisted with the refurbishing of some of the island's courthouses in the 1980s.
Two years ago Mr. Justice Henderson Downer, a Court of Appeal Judge, said that the courts needed a building maintenance manager. "If that is not done, the place will become a slum," he said.
The judge was responding to comments made in court by Dennis Goffe, Q.C., about the deplorable condition of the Supreme Court which US AID money was used to refurbish.
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