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Courthouse access reduced to single entrance

Thursday, August 31, 2023
By JARED JERNAGAN, Editor
Putnam County Courthouse

Acting on a recommendation from the Indiana Supreme Court, county officials will reduce access to the Putnam County Courthouse to a single entrance beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 5, following the Labor Day holiday.

The east entrance of the courthouse, which faces Indiana Street, will be the only access point for the public and most courthouse employees. This entrance was chosen as the only one that is handicap accessible.

The Courthouse Security Committee made the move as part of a larger security plan being implemented to ensure increased security for the county’s courts in particular. The recommendations resulted from an Indiana Supreme Court audit.

Due to their nature as security measures, not all of the changes are being shared publicly.

One coming change that will be obvious to the public will be the installation of an X-ray machine at the east entrance. The Putnam County Commissioners announced during their second meeting in August that a used X-ray unit had been obtained at no charge from Hamilton County.

The doors on the other three sides of the courthouse will remain exits.

Courthouse access was temporarily reduced to a single exit due to health screenings in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, the change appears to be permanent.

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  • More thought needs to be made before enacting such a drastic change.

    Parking on the Square will become more congested.

    What about bringing prisoners for a court date to the courthouse?

    Will another Deputy be hired to screen everyone passing thru the X-ray machine?

    I have a number of questions to numerous to list here.

    -- Posted by Lookout on Thu, Aug 31, 2023, at 4:33 PM

  • Lookout

    There is no way this will make parking on the square worse because it is already terrible.

    They would never release the details of how they plan to bring prisoner's to the courthouse and this would be a major security issue.

    Someone will have to run it and the reality is it will most likely take more people to be hired.

    -- Posted by putnamcountyperson on Thu, Aug 31, 2023, at 5:21 PM

  • Parking will not be any worse than it already is. Now there will never be any available parking on the east side of the square.

    -- Posted by Homegrown765 on Thu, Aug 31, 2023, at 5:36 PM

  • How long before they move all the "reserved" parking spaces to the east side of the courthouse?

    -- Posted by Alfred E. on Fri, Sep 1, 2023, at 8:21 AM

  • How will this impact evening use and access to the courthouse? For meetings of the Putnam County Council, Plan Commission or BZA, will access continue to be the north door or will an employee be present to screen all entrants through the east door after 4:00?

    -- Posted by LJScott on Fri, Sep 1, 2023, at 9:11 AM

  • With every thing going on now sounds like they are trying to get everything in order for another plandemic

    -- Posted by Brass101 on Fri, Sep 1, 2023, at 10:13 AM

  • Most Indiana courthouses have been operating this way for several years. A small amount of inconvenience is nothing compared to increased security.

    -- Posted by very.interesting on Fri, Sep 1, 2023, at 1:40 PM

  • This is very sad for many reasons.

    -- Posted by Keywest on Fri, Sep 1, 2023, at 5:16 PM

  • Keywest care to elaborate on the many reasons?

    -- Posted by Homegrown765 on Sat, Sep 2, 2023, at 1:38 PM

  • Slowly catching up to the 21st Century! Now about getting those records access online.....

    -- Posted by 1armyvet on Sun, Sep 3, 2023, at 5:48 PM

  • Hendricks county went to this system years ago. It annoyed me then and it annoys me now.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Sun, Sep 3, 2023, at 6:09 PM

  • This isn't a big deal.

    -- Posted by beg on Mon, Sep 4, 2023, at 12:09 AM

  • Getting into Crawfordsville's courthouse is like boarding an airplane. Armed guard, x-ray, the whole bit. Has been for years. Nut-jobs going to a sentencing in court could blow up any time. Our commissioners are late getting this done, as usual.

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Tue, Sep 5, 2023, at 8:54 AM

  • Terre Haute has the same. Worse than boarding a plane.

    -- Posted by dumpsterdiva61 on Wed, Sep 6, 2023, at 11:47 AM
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