Jury duty just got an upgrade.
Hennepin County on Friday unveiled a new $2.1 million jury assembly room at the Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, where the 20,000 people who serve annually on jury duty will check in and pass the time.
As county leaders noted, the project elevates the jury room in quality — making it a modern space — and literally, moving it from a windowless basement room under the street to "penthouse" space on the Government Center's 24th floor.
"It's very fitting for us to place the jury assembly room where it belongs — at the top of the court tower — in recognition of the important roles that jurors and jury trials have in our justice system, indeed in our democracy," Hennepin County Chief District Judge Ivy Bernhardson said. "We want our jurors to pass their time productively and comfortably while they await service."
New technology and features include a kitchen, secure lockers, flat-screen TVs with headphones and a private room for nursing mothers or people who want to pray. Board games and phone charging stations are available.
Kiosks allow jurors to check in electronically, speeding up the process so court proceedings can start on time, said Kate Fogarty, the district court administrator.
The 6,400-square-foot assembly room, which opened in December, is indicative of a national push to demonstrate the value of jury duty by moving jury rooms to better locations, officials said.
The former assembly room had been in the basement of the Government Center since it opened in the 1970s, located below the street where jurors could hear rumbling from the traffic passing overhead. That room will now be used for scanning documents.
