A fight is heating up over indecent exposure in Cook County’s Leighton Criminal Court Building. 

WBEZ reported last week that the public defender’s office has banned its personnel from lockup areas behind courtrooms to protect them from defendants fondling themselves. 

Now we’ve learned some female attorneys in that office have brought sex discrimination and retaliation charges to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that accuse county officials of tolerating the problem. 

We spoke with a public defender who said she has had to put up with the masturbation since she started at the courthouse more than a decade ago. She had never filed a criminal complaint about it until a September incident that continues to affect her.

Chip Mitchell reports on criminal justice from WBEZ’s West Side studio. Follow him on Twitter at @ChipMitchell1.