Volunteer Defense Attorneys Needed in Lousiana
Posted on Tue Sep 13, 2005 at 11:11:28 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Update: Never Mind, Positions have been filled.
From the Southern Center for Human Rights: Volunteer criminal defense attorneys and paralegals are needed this weekend in Louisiana:
When the levee broke in New Orleans, about 7000 men, women, and children were locked up in Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) and other area jails. After 2 days of chaos and rising water, people who were locked up were shoved onto
buses and scattered to 35 facilities throughout the state. They were sent without papers, and the OPP computer system is underwater. Many of the folks now sitting in DOC custody were in OPP waiting for bond, serving 5 day sentences for public drunkenness, waiting to be processed in/out, etc. They are now locked down in Louisiana's DOC, a notoriously mean-spirited bureaucracy that has very little capacity to reconnect families or even verify information that would allow these folks to be released & reunited with their families.
The Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (LACDL) on Friday started going into the facilities to do 10-minute interviews with the 6000+ individuals who are being held by DOC. They are looking for information to help the prisoners locate their families and (if any) lawyers. This is a Herculean task that LACDL simply cannot do on its own. They are looking for volunteer attorneys & paralegals with criminal defense experience to help. 
Below is a description of what is needed. If you able to assist, be aware of the following:
1. We will be visiting prisons in Louisiana on Saturday (9/17) and Sunday (9/18). Although we may concentrate on Angola Prison in Angola and Hunt Prison in St. Gabriel, LA - we don't yet know which prisons we will be visiting. At this point we expect to start from Baton Rouge early Saturday morning. Please be flexible.
2. You must arrange for your own transportation as well as sleeping
accommodations. I've tried to reserve some hotel rooms, but these rooms cannot be guaranteed. Please bring a cell phone and charger, your bar card stating you are licensed to practice law (whatever jurisdiction). If you are a paralegal, please bring a letter from a law office stating that you are a paralegal.
If you can help, contact Angela Wessels.
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