Supervisors Don Marcus and Reb Monaco are putting their heads
together with Judge Steven Sanders to come up with ways to make the
county courthouse more secure.
Hollister – Supervisors Don Marcus and Reb Monaco are putting their heads together with Judge Steven Sanders to come up with ways to make the county courthouse more secure.
Though the discussion is still preliminary, Monaco said the drive to increase security at the courthouse carried over from the previous Board of Supervisors. Recommendations for improving security were also included in the 2004-2005 San Benito County Grand Jury report.
Chief among supervisors’ concerns is figuring out new a way to bring people in custody into the courthouse safely.
“We talked about how we can move people who are incarcerated in for court dates,” Monaco said. “We do not have the most secure arrangement right now.”
Currently, shackled inmates are walked through the small courthouse lobby, where there is the possibility for contact with the general public, and into the courtroom.
“The courthouse is totally inadequate,” Sheriff Curtis Hill said. His department has the task of transporting inmates to and from court appearances. “There’s too much public access.”
Built more than four decades ago, San Benito County’s courthouse is out-of-date and not set up to deal with the increased security risks of the 21st century, according to Hill.
“Our courthouse is like many courthouses in California that are totally inadequate in security aspects,” he said. “Probably, they were designed for a different era when they didn’t have such a concern about courthouse safety. Now courthouse safety is a major concern.”
The issue of courthouse safety made national news March 11 when inmate Brian Nichols wrested a gun from the deputy who was escorting him and killed three people in a Fulton County, Georgia courthouse and a fourth in an Atlanta suburb before being apprehended the next day.
One solution mentioned in the grand jury report is to create a back door in the building that will lead inmates directly into the courtroom, according to Marcus.
“The main goal is to move in-custody inmates … so they stay safe and the public is safe,” Hill said.
In addition to finding a new way to transport inmates, Marcus said he, Monaco and Sanders talked about ways to make the exterior of the courthouse more secure.
One option, according to Marcus, is building some structure around the entire complex – which also houses other county offices – and creating one secure entry point with metal detectors at the corner of Monterey and Fifth streets.
