Justice Center Complex

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The Justice Center Complex in Cleveland, Ohio, is a government building complex in the Civic Center District. It includes the Cleveland Police Headquarters, the Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Municipal Courts Tower (Courts Tower), and the Correction Center (Jail I) plus Jail II. The complex sits on a city block bounded by Lakeside Avenue, Ontario Street, West 3rd Street, and St. Clair Avenue, with the Lakeside entrance facing the nearby 1912 Cuyahoga County Courthouse.

History and construction
The project was proposed in 1969. In 1971, Cleveland’s new mayor, Ralph Perk, supported moving the police department into the complex. Ground was broken on October 20, 1972, and construction was completed in 1976 for the Courts Tower, Jail I, and the Police Headquarters. Jail II, built much later, was added in 1995 at the southern corner of the block.

What’s there
- Courts Tower: a tall, 25-story building about 420 feet high, housing the courts.
- Jail I (Correction Center) and Jail II: two jail facilities with different capacities; Jail II opened in 1995.
- Cleveland Police Headquarters: the police operations building.
Architects
- Courts Tower and Jail I: Prindle, Patrick and Associates
- Police Headquarters: Richard L. Bowen and Associates
- Jail II: Robert P. Madison International

Key features
- A four-story central atrium connects the different buildings and serves as the secure public entry.
- Glass curtain walls on several facades and enclosed walkways link Jail I to Jail II and to the Police Headquarters.
- The complex covers about 2.3 million square feet of interior space.
- The plaza at the north end features the Isamu Noguchi sculpture Portal, a 36-foot-tall granite sculpture donated in 1977.

Renovations and issues
- The exterior stone veneer of the three original buildings was refurbished in 1995.
- A major renovation in 1999 updated the Corrections Center and Jail II and increased Jail I’s bed capacity to about 1,749.
- In 2013–2014, Osborn Engineering found the complex in significant disrepair, with aging electrical, plumbing, elevators, and HVAC systems and limited room for modern communications. Estimates for a renovation began around $300 million; building new facilities could cost well over $400 million. County officials discussed options ranging from extensive renovations to demolishing the complex and building anew, but no final plan had been adopted.

In popular culture
The Justice Center Complex is featured in the third season of the Serial podcast, and it appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. A 2020 Hulu miniseries, Little Fires Everywhere, used a courtroom scene inspired by the complex.

Overall
The Justice Center Complex is a landmark government facility in downtown Cleveland that combines the city’s police operations with county and city courts and jail facilities. Over the years, it has faced accessibility and modernization challenges, highlighting the difficulty of upgrading aging public institutions in place.