[Ppnews] Lawyers & Paralegals needed in Louisiana

[Political Prisoner News]

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY LIST TO PASS THIS ON TO, OR ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS THE 
RIGHT SKILLS WHO MIGHT HELP YOU COULD LITERALLY BE HELPING TO SAVE LIVES! 
THANKS

Volunteer Defense Lawyers & Paralegals Needed in Louisiana

A call has been made for volunteer criminal defense attorneys and
paralegals by the Southern Center for Human Rights to assist in Louisiana
this weekend.

"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."

Contact Angela Wessels, development assisant at the SCHR at
<awessels @aol.com>  if you would like more information

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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