Just as COVID struck, I met Lacie. A public defender in Louisiana. The *only* in East Baton Rouge assigned to represent the 12k arrested each year at bail hearings. Since then, she has gained release for 1400+ people. Still, Louisiana might lose public defense forever. A story:

Lacie, the lone defender representing people facing a judge & prosecutor requesting bail, isn't even funded by Louisiana. The East Baton Rouge public defenders office *had to secure outside funding* to set up a pilot program to defend people at this critical stage. To stand up.

Before Lacie, there was no public defender, no defense at all, at bail hearings. There is no state funding. Facing the judge alone, bail was routinely set in unaffordable amounts. People are stripped of their liberty, jailed pretrial, their lives destroyed, & families separated.

Without Lacie, people face a judge alone making the most significant decision: Whether or not they will be jailed. Silenced. It's dangerous for them to speak for fear they may hurt their case. The judge simply jails and does so 99% of the time.

Once bail is set, people are caged pretrial, presumed innocent, w/o recourse & little access to counsel while they wait. Under an archaic & cruel Louisiana law, people can be & are held for months before prosecutors decide whether to charge them w/ a crime.

While locked up, people lose jobs & housing, miss school, & face violence at enormous taxpayer cost. Public defenders receive no funds to provide counsel at first appearances, & insufficient funds to serve those held while waiting on prosecutors to make their charging decision.

The situation is stark in East Baton Rouge. But it's stark all throughout Louisiana. There, defenders have no full-time investigators, cannot afford to fill 16 critical positions or provide cost of living raises to staff, and has long been plagued by layoffs & retention issues.

Now for the unfortunate twist. All of the above - the cruelty, thousands caged, vast under-resourcing of a constitutional right, injustice - was how public defense operated before COVID. Now funding is down 60%. And public defense could die. Let me explain:

Before COVID, Louisiana had already long undermined the right to counsel. Beyond chronic underfunding, Louisiana is the only state that forces those unable to afford lawyers to fund the majority of public defense off of fines & fees from their arrest, conviction, & incarceration.

In the best of times, relying on those too poor to afford an attorney to fund public defense is irrational & unfair. In the worst of times, it’s catastrophic. There's a history to this in Louisiana. Floods. Hurricanes. Pandemics. Always hurt Black & Brown communities the most.

In the summer of 2016, Alton Sterling, a 37 year old Black man, was shot dead at close range by two police officers in East Baton Rouge. What does a police murder have to do with public defense funding? Answer should be "nothing." But in Louisiana, it was everything.

Alton Sterling's killing sparked widespread protests and calls for justice & accountability, which lead to even more violence & clashes w/ police. Just one month later, Baton Rouge then endured catastrophic flooding, which caused unprecedented damage.

The floods & protests over Alton Sterling's killing lead to another devastating outcome. As police were removed from active duty to address the protests & natural disasters, traffic tickets were simply not written. In Louisiana, that meant that public defense was not funded.

The result of traffic tickets drying up: Public defender layoffs. Unfilled positions. Waiting lists of people in need of counsel. Public defenders w/ sky-high caseloads. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on people jailed pretrial w/o an attorney to represent them.

Four years later, East Baton Rouge defenders & the community they served were still struggling. Then COVID struck. History is repeating. The traffic tickets & court fines & fees public defense offices are forced to rely upon for funding--the “User Pay” system—have been depleted.

This brings me back to Lacie. Public defenders are needed now more than ever. Needed to save lives, provide counsel for those detained, & save taxpayers the costly waste of thousands locked in jail pretrial, uncounseled, waiting indefinitely for their case to resolve.

Just one public defender saved 1400 people the brutality of jail. Kept families together. Saved $millions. Louisiana has an opportunity to #enduserpay & fund public defense, instead of forcing those who are Constitutionally entitled to free legal services to pay for them.

The Louisiana state legislature must act. At the very least make up the shortfall from now-depleted “User Pay” funds. At the most, fund public defense at a far higher level than ever before to enable defense offices to provide meaningful assistance of counsel.

Current affairs: A special session was just scheduled for Oct. 4 for legislature to continue to debate budget. If they don’t make up shortfall, public defense will collapse. There's reason for hope. On June 4, 2020, defenders testified. Many legislators were surprised & appalled.

While millions of people protest & march for Black lives & against police overreach and violence, the right to an attorney--public defense--is a risk of dying and thousands are being stranded in jails and facing charges in Louisiana without attorneys.

Public defenders in Louisiana, their allies, & the people & communities they serve, have launched a campaign to break through the noise and ensure that saving public defense becomes a priority issue in the state. Take action here to #EndUserPay: http://ForTheSixth.org