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Orleans Public Defenders announce furloughs in face of decreased revenue due to coronavirus

: News; 04 May 2020

The Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) announced on Monday that they have begun furloughing employees in the face of an anticipated $800,000 budget shortfall stemming from loss of revenue that comes from court fees and traffic tickets.

Money from court fees and traffic tickets account for about one-third of the office’s budget, according to its most recent annual audit. But with the courts closed due to coronavirus, and fewer traffic tickets being written following the Gov. John Bel Edwards’ stay at home order, those funding sources have diminished.

The furloughs will result in employees having their hours and pay cut between 10 and 30 percent based on salary, with higher salaried employees taking the larger cuts. Lindsey Hortenstine, a spokesperson for the public defenders, said that the furloughs would affect all staff that were not supported by grants or outside funding — about 67 employees.

According to a press release, furloughs began on April 15th for the leadership and management teams at OPD and will start on May 1 for the rest of the staff.

Read the full article at The Lens.

Louisiana public defenders fight to protect clients from coronavirus, even as their offices run out of money

: News; 04 May 2020

The moment he heard about the first coronavirus case in New Orleans, Derwyn Bunton knew he had to realign his priorities. “I told my staff, ‘Y’all, this is going to get bad,’” he says. Bunton is the district defender for Orleans Parish, or the chief public defender for the city of New Orleans. After that first case, Bunton’s primary objective would be to depopulate the city’s jail, which could quickly become a viral time bomb.

Over the past month, the number of people in jail in New Orleans has dropped from 1,100 to 820, thanks largely to the efforts of Bunton’s staff.

Even as Bunton’s offices work to free people from the jail, arrests for low-level crimes have continued. The Louisiana Supreme Court has canceled jury trials in the state, but New Orleans courts are still holding hearings via teleconference. Bunton mentions one recent client who was arrested and spent a night in jail on a three-year-old trespassing charge. “Because of the statute of limitations, it wasn’t even prosecutable,” he says. “We had another client arrested for possession of a single Oxycodone tablet. Another for failure to return a rental car on time. We need to be limiting law enforcement’s interactions to serious crimes only, for the safety of everyone.”

Read the full article at Washington Post.

OPD Announces Furloughs Due to Plummeting User-Pay Revenue

: News; 20 April 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2020

Projected $800,000 Shortfall and Plummet of User-Pay Revenue from COVID-19 Shutdowns Exacerbates Funding and Resource Inequities in New Orleans’ Criminal Legal System

New Orleans – Today, the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) announced the implementation of anticipated furloughs due to a projected $800,000 funding shortfall. COVID-19 has shutdown New Orleans’ courts and criminal legal system, and with it, a significant source of revenue for the office. For nearly a decade, OPD has warned of the dangerous effects of Louisiana’s user-pay system. Today, COVID-19 has exacerbated that broken and inequitable funding structure and built on the backs of poor people.

“We did not make this decision lightly and we regret the problems this will undoubtedly cause for our clients and our community," said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton, “but we simply don’t have enough money to operate at full capacity. We have been here before and have warned decision makers time and again about the potential fallout. No one should be surprised. What remains frustrating is, even now, we are the only entity within the criminal legal system in this situation. This will have serious ramifications. The inequities are stark and it is our poorest, most vulnerable and disenfranchised citizens who pay the price.”

Furloughs began April 15 for the Leadership and Management teams with remaining staff set to begin May 1. Because of the unique situation created by court closures and virtual proceedings, the furloughs will be less clear than in the prior crises of 2012 and 2015. But the courts should be prepared for immediate delays due to the lack of representation. Should furloughs continue once court resumes, court officials and stakeholders should expect reduced presence of OPD staff and continued delays. This will mean incarcerated defendants could remain unnecessarily detained when they could have otherwise been released on bond or into various diversion programs.

Mitigation plans also call for the elimination of our conflict panel contracts and subsequent refusal of those conflict cases. It also will cease all expert and expert fees utilized for case preparation. These two actions, coupled with the furloughs, will cause the ripple effects of constitutional crisis and have devastating impacts on thousands of poor New Orleanians.

In the month since COVID-19 began its spread throughout New Orleans, OPD immediately called on officials to prioritize the health and safety of those in the jail and begin work to depopulate the Orleans Justice Center as quickly and safely as possible. An ever-growing consortium of scientific and medical professionals have called jails and prisons across the country one of the most vulnerable populations to catastrophic public health crises due to COVID-19. OPD pushed for the closure of the courts to further protect defendants, staff and the public, as well as NOPD to cease certain arrests that unnecessarily increase exposure to the coronavirus during arrest and upon entering the jail. Today, the jail population is at its lowest in decades even as the number of staff and inmates who test positive for coronavirus increase.

OPD has long called on criminal justice stakeholders, local and state officials to establish stable, adequate and equitable funding sources for public defenders. While some progress has been made locally, OPD remains out-funded and out-resourced by the District Attorney at nearly five times the rate, despite representing more than 85% of all defendants in Orleans Parish. OPD implored the Mayor and City Council to establish equity between OPD and the DA while also reiterating the ramifications the longer these inequities remain.

OPD has remained in a pattern of service restrictions since the last funding crisis of 2015 and 2016, where we were forced to refuse cases. In 2012, OPD was forced to cut $1 million and a third of its staff. Inadequate, inequitable and unreliable funding and resources continue to compromise OPD’s ability to provide mandated legal services, brings higher costs in our criminal justice system, delays justice, and ultimately puts public safety at risk.

Should enough funding become available to eliminate the need for the furloughs, OPD staff will return to full court coverage and we will immediately notify stakeholders.

Letter: Reduce Jail Population in the Name of Community Health

: News; 07 April 2020

Today's opinion piece in the New Orleans Advocate by Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton

Time is running out. Our opportunity to make the parish jail in New Orleans as safe as possible is dwindling. We must, right now, meet the needs of deputies, support staff and medical professionals. To contain and prevent the rapid and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, we must limit the number of people in the jail. We must understand that jail health is directly tied to community health.

In New York City, the first person tested positive for COVID-19 in jail on March 18. The virus then spread quickly. As of April 2, 231 inmates and 223 corrections staff and health workers were positive. The number is still rapidly rising.

The chief medical officer of New York City’s correctional health service wrote he was “raising the alarm” because there is a “public health disaster unfolding before our eyes.” Limited staff and the inability for effective social distancing means it is unlikely even herculean efforts can slow or stop the swift spread. The chief medical officer pleaded for more people to be released to lower the death toll.

Here in New Orleans, the sheriff last week announced two people held in our jail tested positive. Many more staff and medical workers are infected and quarantined. Staffing is greatly depleted, making access to medical care and treatment scarce and challenging at all levels.

Simply put, jail is inherently unsafe. However, to be as safe as possible, it has to be as small as possible. Our jail population is at a historic low. Leaders within the criminal legal system and community advocates have worked hard to decrease the jail size, but much more is urgently needed.

The Orleans Public Defenders recently identified more than 200 people who can safely be released. We have sent these clients to both the court and the Department of Corrections for consideration. But we must act immediately to prevent, and not imitate, the disaster unfolding in New York City.

Additionally, we must do more to decrease the number of people entering the jail. No more arrests and bookings on nonviolent charges and misdemeanors until we get control over the spread of this disease. We can maintain public safety without sacrificing public health.

Doctors and public health officials are sounding the alarm about the pending disaster at our jail. It is time to heed those warnings and act. The New York chief doctor says the jail is in a crisis “of a magnitude no generation living today has ever seen.” Let’s take steps to save lives and prevent further spread of this virus.

Statement Regarding the Court's Dismissal of Emergency Release Petition

: News; 28 March 2020

We are disappointed in the Court’s dismissal of our petition yesterday. We filed an unprecedented motion because of these unprecedented times. We hoped the Court would recognize the urgency of the situation and release the classes of individuals we identified for them. We are disappointed that they have declined to do so. We appreciate Sheriff Gusman acknowledging these unprecedented times and the District Attorney’s willingness to work with us.

We have identified more than 200 people currently incarcerated at OJC on charges that are not crimes of violence. Far more than a tiny fraction.

We simply can’t wait to do this piecemeal. Waiting any further might be too long to prevent an irreversible outbreak. We intend to refile and identify the individuals who fall into the outlined categories.

On Friday, March 27, we filed a letter with the Criminal District Court to follow up on our emergency release petition urging them act swiftly on the request. They subsequently denied the petition and issued an En Banc order that simply did not go far enough.

Attachments:
DDB Follow Up letter re Mass Habeas 3-27-2020.pdf

OPD Files Emergency Habeas Petition for Immediate Release of Hundreds of Vulnerable People at OJC

: News; 25 March 2020

OPD FILES EMERGENCY HABEAS PETITION TO CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT EN BANC FOR THE IMMEDIATE
RELEASE OF VULNERABLE AND LOW-RISK INMATES FROM ORLEANS PARISH SHERIFF CUSTODY

Today, the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) filed an emergency habeas petition En Banc to the entire Criminal District Court for the immediate release of vulnerable and low-risk inmates from the custody of the Sheriff. As COVID-19 reaches crisis levels in New Orleans, the threat to our most vulnerable citizens grows more serious without additional immediate and decisive action on the part of the courts.

National and local health experts agree no detention facility can protect against an outbreak of COVID-19. Once inside the jail, the virus will quickly overwhelm the capacity of both the jail and the city’s medical infrastructure.

“We have the opportunity to jump in front of a catastrophic outbreak in the jail, if immediate action is taken,” said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton. “Bottom line, the jail is not safe – no jail is – for anyone in it. By their very nature, jails are a dangerous place for our clients, the deputies, medical staff, and other jail personnel when it comes to COVID-19. We must do more to prevent the spread of the virus and mitigate the dangers for everyone inside the jail. We are putting hundreds of people in the direct path of the contagion the longer we wait. We are imploring the Court to take action, even as NOPD continues to arrest for nonviolent charges that could otherwise be given a summons.”

New Orleans is facing one of the highest infection rates in the world, and refusing to take action could lead to the Orleans Justice Center becoming ground zero for community infection. At the same time, the vulnerable population inside the jail will consume precious treatment resources, we can conserve these resources with immediate action. COVID-19 is uniquely contagious and uniquely deadly. This is exactly why doctors and health officials urge social distancing and isolation. Reducing the jail population reduces the overall public health risk because it allows jail officials to better utilize isolation and social distancing inside the jail, where such action is at least challenging, and at worst, impossible.

At least eight states and local court systems—in Alabama, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Washington—as well as the District of Columbia, have already taken steps to limit incarceration during this crisis.

The motion requests the release of individuals in the following categories: people with risk factors such as age or underlying health conditions making them more susceptible to COVID-19; people being held on misdemeanor charges; people being held on felony charges that are not crimes of violence and/or sex charges; people being held on just probation or parole detainers; and all people serving a sentence who are within 30 days of their release dates.

“Limiting the impact of the criminal legal system should be paramount. We need to do our part to protect our communities from the threats of COVID-19,” said Bunton. “In this moment we cannot act like some people are unimportant. Right now the message is, ‘if you are poor and unable to bond out, your health and well-being is of far less importance,’ and that is not a message that flattens any curve.”

Media Contact:
Lindsey Hortenstine

404-520-3087