<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br>
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<br><br>
Volunteer Defense Lawyers & Paralegals Needed in Louisiana<br><br>
A call has been made for volunteer criminal defense attorneys and<br>
paralegals by the Southern Center for Human Rights to assist in
Louisiana<br>
this weekend.<br><br>
"When the levee broke in New Orleans, about 7000 men, women, and
children<br>
were locked up in Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) and other area jails. After
2<br>
days of chaos and rising water, people who were locked up were shoved
onto<br>
buses and scattered to 35 facilities throughout the state. They were
sent<br>
without papers, and the OPP computer system is underwater. Many of
the<br>
folks now sitting in DOC custody were in OPP waiting for bond, serving
5<br>
day sentences for public drunkenness, waiting to be processed
in/out,<br>
etc. They are now locked down in Louisiana's DOC, a notoriously<br>
mean-spirited bureaucracy that has very little capacity to reconnect<br>
families or even verify information that would allow these folks to
be<br>
released & reunited with their families.<br><br>
The Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (LACDL) on
Friday<br>
started going into the facilities to do 10-minute interviews with the
6000+<br>
individuals who are being held by DOC. They are looking for information
to<br>
help the prisoners locate their families and (if any) lawyers. This is
a<br>
Herculean task that LACDL simply cannot do on its own. They are looking
for<br>
volunteer attorneys & paralegals with criminal defense experience to
help."<br><br>
Contact Angela Wessels, development assisant at the SCHR at <br>
<awessels @aol.com> if you would like more information<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>