The Anoka County Courthouse soon will undergo an $8.5 million renovation aimed at improving security and how inmates from the jail next door are moved around the structure.
The four-phase project begins this fall and continues over the next few years.
"The primary focus is to make the courthouse a safer place to work and a safer place for everybody to be," said Judge Dan O'Fallon. One of the main security concerns has been the closeness between the public and inmates regularly brought into the building via a skyway to the jail, he said.
Although there have been no security crises, the upgrades have been discussed for some years. However, budgets were tight, said County Commissioner Scott Schulte.
In July, a group of judges, court staff and county commissioners presented its recommendations to the County Board after an 18-month study to address security concerns in courtrooms that handle felony arraignments, hearings and trials.
It would have taken $90 million to build a new courthouse, which was deemed far too expensive, Schulte said.
The renovation will include a new courtroom and an elevator designed to transport inmates who are brought to the courthouse via a skyway from the jail, as well as clearer directional signs throughout the courthouse.
"It's a bit of a difficult courthouse to move through," O'Fallon said. "That's a challenge … we are moving inmates all over the place, and that's a fairly unusual situation. Prisoners are seen walking in the hallways. It happens every day."
