Two Jefferson district courtrooms were shut down the past few weeks because of possible infections spread from one and mold growing in the other, said Jefferson District Judge Sean R. Delahanty.

Courtroom 302 in the Hall of Justice was closed after two prosecutors with the Jefferson County attorney's office contracted staph infections and because there was something, believed to be food residue, leaking down a wall, Delahanty said last week.

The courtroom was reopened late last week after city maintenance workers cleaned the area and shampooed the carpets.

Delahanty said that others who work in 302 or other nearby courtrooms as well as an attorney conference room have become sick in recent years, but he was unsure of what caused the illnesses.

He said some inmates from Louisville Metro Corrections have been infected with the penicillin-resistant staph infection known as MRSA — or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — while incarcerated and that they are often transported from the jail to holding cells above the courtrooms.

“It's not unforeseeable that if there is MRSA in the jail that it is going to come to the Hall of Justice,” Delahanty said.

He said he didn't know what form of staph infection the prosecutors had.

Pam Windsor, a spokeswoman for Metro Corrections, said she had not heard about the problems in Courtroom 302 but acknowledged that some inmates have had MRSA and “we've taken precautions” to separate them and cover infected areas when they are taken to court.

Windsor said Metro Corrections currently had four inmates with MRSA, out of more than 2,000 total inmates.

Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the county attorney's office, confirmed that two prosecutors have gotten sick, one recently and the other in past months, but that he could not discuss their illnesses because of personnel confidentiality laws.

Patteson said Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell is looking into the problems and is working with metro government on the cleanliness of the courts.

“It is a concern,” Patteson said.

Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jerry Abramson, said the wall and carpet in 302 were stained with food and that work still needs to be done on an elevator.

She said some “bio-hazard cleanup” had been finished in an attorney conference room near the courtroom, costing about $2,000. And $8,000 has been spent to strip and replace floors throughout the Hall of Justice.

Work is still being done on courtrooms 302 and 310, which was found to have mold growing in it, and the total costs have not been calculated, Richardson said.

Richardson added that the courthouse is the busiest building in the state, with about 10,000 people coming in per day, and that touchless hand sanitizers will be installed soon.

While Courtroom 310 has also been cleaned, “the smell is unacceptable” and it remains closed, Delahanty said.

Richardson said Courtroom 310 has a design flaw that needs to be fixed and a dehumidifier will be installed as a temporary solution.

Delahanty said the conference room near Courtroom 302 is “filthy.”

“We need to do a better job disinfecting the building,” he said.

Richardson said that the city took action immediately when officials heard a prosecutor recently contracted a staff infection and that the attorney conference room is now being wiped down twice a day.

Reporter Jason Riley can be reached at (502) 582-4727.