Tobacco.org

• No justice for nonsmokers at Justice Center  

The other day, in the shabby stairwell of the Criminal Justice Center, gray smoke billowed in front of the red-painted signs that read: "No Smoking." Two cigarette butts were lodged in the cracks of the symbol's red slash.

In the CJC, on Filbert Street near 13th, where more than 1,000 cases are heard in the 35 courtrooms each day, the law is being ignored.

More specifically, the city's Clean Indoor Air Worker Protection Law, in place since January 2007, prohibits smoking in all workplaces and indoor areas accessible to the public, which includes the CJC.

Cigarette butts litter the building's stairwell, and people who take the stairs to avoid overcrowded elevators often have to walk through secondhand smoke. . . .

"It's a bad health issue because there's no ventilation here," said the janitor, who has worked at the CJC since 1995 but didn't want his name printed. "I hope I don't develop lung cancer."

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