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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.
A janitor in the building said he sweeps cigarette butts off the stairwell every day. He said some people don't use the steps because of the smoke, pointing to brown dots in the stairwell he said were caused by cigarettes.
"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."
Secondhand smoke causes about 3,400 lung-cancer deaths and as many as 69,600 heart-disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the U.S. each year, according to the American Lung Association.
"Secondhand smoke can linger for hours," said Kenneth Smith, director of chronic-disease prevention for the city Department of Public Health. "Just being exposed can cause health problems."
A paper sign recently placed on the second-floor doorway says that smoking is prohibited in the stairwell and that violators will be fined $100.
Since the CJC was built in 1995, red-painted no-smoking signs have adorned its walls on every floor, said David Lawrence, court administrator for the First Judicial District.
Several city officials said no one has been fined for smoking in the building. Lawrence said meetings with supervisors in the last few months have helped decrease the volume of smoking.
"From what I'm told, the situation is vastly improved from what it used to be," he said. "We think we've gotten through to the majority of people."
Lawrence said a personnel policy only prohibits court employees from smoking.
"If someone from the general public is smoking in the stairway, I don't know what authority I have," he said.
He said the responsibility of enforcing the law to non-court employees falls under the city's smoking ordinance.
Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Nutter, said some folks may be smoking because they don't get the sense that the law is being enforced.
"While we are aware now that the law is being violated, it is still our expectation that it is honored, regardless of who the individuals are who may be breaking that law," he said.
Joan Schlotterbeck, commissioner of the Department of Public Property, said her department's responsibility is to manage and maintain the building.
"We've had challenges with that building and people violating the smoking ordinance for a long time," she said.
Schlotterbeck said she is arranging a meeting with the Sheriff's Office, Police Department and First Judicial District. She said that additional signs were added last week and that more were ordered.
Friday afternoon, a man dressed in a suit, who said he was an attorney, walked into the ninth-floor stairwell to take a drag. One floor above him, a woman who said she works at the CJC was smoking on the steps. When approached about her habit, she put out her cigarette and bolted out the door.
Karen Fisher, 52, of Northeast Philadelphia, said that despite her asthma, she was smoking inside as well. She was at the CJC with her husband, who had a court appearance for DUI charges.
"It's not just me, so I don't feel guilty," she said. "If I saw someone with an oxygen tank, I'd put it out." *
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