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Chief justice celebrates 'historic' new Supreme Court conference table, built by prison inmates

In the background, Loretta Rush sits at the new Supreme Court conference table, out of focus. In the foreground, in focus, is the edge of the table, which has the names of each justice in state history carved into it.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush said the new Supreme Court conference table, built by prison inmates, is "Indiana at its finest."

Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush said the “historic” new Supreme Court conference table is “Indiana at its finest.”

It comes at no cost to taxpayers and replaces a 100-plus-year-old table in the conference room adjacent to the Supreme Court chambers in the Statehouse.

The table was built entirely by inmates at the Pendleton Correctional Facility. Rush said she thinks that’s important for the place the justices sit around as they decide cases.

A plaque on the side of the new Supreme Court conference table quotes the Indiana Constitution, reading "Article 1, Section 18. The penal code shall be founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice." It also reads "Table constructed by the Pendleton Correctional Facility."
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
The new Indiana Supreme Court conference table was built entirely by prison inmates at the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

“I think it's important that we realize that the decisions we make that affect Hoosiers, that can affect someone's liberty and freedom, that we make these decisions with them in mind,” Rush said. “And part of our Indiana Constitution, Article 1, Section 18, our criminal justice system should be built on reformation as opposed to being vindictive.”

Those words from the state constitution are engraved on a plaque on the side of the table. The seal of the court is carved into the center of the tabletop, while the names of all 111 justices in state history ring around the table’s edge.

“This table will be here a century,” Rush said. “This will outlive a lot of us. And the future members of the Supreme Court will be sitting around here deciding what justice looks like in Indiana.”

Using entirely Indiana wood, the inmates also matched a pattern that runs around the tabletop to an inlay that encircles the floor in the Supreme Court conference room.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.