AFTER clerks at Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last week staged a two-day sickout to press for better working conditions, attorney Alexander Shaw says the state of most courthouses across the island leaves much to be desired.

“It was affecting the clerks in St Andrew this week, but there is a wider issue with regards to the condition of our courthouses across Jamaica and it’s affecting not just the public but practitioners who are also inconvenienced,” the social and political commentator told the Jamaica Observer.

The attorney, who, like others in the profession, journeys to other circuits across Jamaica, says the age-old issue of courts which have long outgrown their capacities and are housed in ramshackle buildings with less than adequate facilities contribute to frustration for judges, court staff, attorneys, and court users.

“Going to courts across the island, it’s very difficult. Take, for example, the Manchester division where the court has been on a plaza for an extended period and there has been no communication of when this will change. I have to be searching around to find parking nearby, and you have to pay. The same thing happens at the St Elizabeth Parish Court, there is not even a desk for counsel to rest his documents,” Shaw told the Observer.

“Judges may not be able to come out and speak but as lawyers we have to speak, not even a changing room for lawyers to put on their robes; the bathrooms are in a deplorable condition in most facilities,” he noted further.

Shaw, however, singled out the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, St James Parish Court and Chapleton Outstation Court of the Clarendon Court as being a cut above the rest — a standard which he says should apply to all court buildings islandwide.

“They need maintenance; don’t wait until they are in a dilapidated condition before you start to treat with it. When you have clerk of courts who have to stage a sickout to get attention, it is disheartening. On the one hand, we have matters being turned around in quick time, but I think the conditions need to be addressed because regardless of who you are, you will have to use the courts at some time,” he noted.

Noting that matters relating to repairs and acquisition are often blamed on procurement issues, Shaw said, “As a country, we have to do more because justice is the cornerstone of any democracy and we can’t allow this issue to be treated with scant regard. It points to a deeper problem, we don’t trust ourselves; you have to go through all this red tape to solve a simple problem.”

Last week, a clerk at the Half-Way-Tree court told the Observer that if their grouses were not addressed, they were prepared to go the long haul with more industrial action, which could severely affect the operations of the court. The workers contend that undesirable conditions, mainly poor air quality, forced them out of their original office in 2023. They said they were relocated to what was then the sickbay, which is a much smaller space.

According to one of the clerks, the cluttered, uncomfortable space they were relocated to sometimes causes files crucial to cases in court to get mixed up or misplaced, among a host of other problems.

The Observer was told that Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has since met with the disgruntled workers.

The Court Administration Division (CAD) said late yesterday that arrangements have been made for the clerks to be absorbed into other sections of the court’s office on their return to work today.

Jamaica’s 14 parishes have parish courts that exercise limited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. The courts for the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew are combined to function as one court with jurisdiction for the Corporate Area. As a result, there are 13 parish courts with over 40 outstations in townships across the island.