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Maryland Law Katrina Project
About The Project
THE BUILDING PROJECT
Click here to read about our first trip to New Orleans in March 2006!
In the the wake of Hurricane Katrina, nearly 200,000 homes were flooded in New Orleans. Many of these homes are structurally sound, but homeowners cannot move back in because no one will assist them in gutting the homes in preparation for renovation. To address this need, students partnered with Catholic Charities' Operation Helping Hands project to aid families in St. Bernard Parish in rebuilding their homes. Consisting of mostly gutting the houses down to the wooden studs, the students aided families in preparing their homes for new construction and renovation. Students removed water-damaged furniture, appliances, fixtures, and walls from the homes.
THE INDIGENT DEFENSE PROJECT
In New Orleans...
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana’s criminal justice system was renowned for being substantially underfunded and underresourced. When Katrina flooded New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, the criminal justice system came to a screeching halt. In the panic to evacuate the city in the wake of the hurricane, the detainees were forgotten. Those who survived the flood waters were left for days in the jails, in overcrowded cells and without access to food and water. In addition, floodwaters also destroyed court files and evidence that had been stored in the basement of the courthouse. When the waters finally subsided, prison authorities were unsure of the status of many detainees who had been disbursed throughout the state. People detained pending misdemeanor charges were kept in jail for over eight months before seeing a judge when the maximum sentence would have been a matter of days or weeks. For many months after Katrina, the New Orleans Public Defender's Office was still trying to find information related to the status and location. They were incredibly short of lawyers and had few volunteers to accomplish this monumental task for many months.
In January of 07, MD law students worked alongside students from around the county to help rebuild homes and to provide volunteer legal services. Our students worked with a law clinic at Tulane University to assist public defenders in conducting a thorough search of court records and in interviewing people awaiting trial and new detainees. These student led trips have been highly successful. Many of them have been organized by the national Student Hurricane Network (SHN) that places law students with organizations in need. During their stays in New Orleans, Maryland students will be among those who will provide this much needed and overdue assistance. We continue to work closely with the SHN to ensure that our resources are going to the right places. This 2008 winter recess, our organization plans to offer opportunities for students to do civil work in Mississippi and criminal law work in New Orleans, along with another building trip planned in Mississippi.
In Baltimore...
The issue of indigent defendants' access to counsel in Baltimore has received recent media attention with the filing of a class action lawsuit by Professor Colbert's students in the Access to Justice Clinic. Partnering with Baltimore law firm Venable LLP, this lawsuit aims to ensure that defendants are guaranteed legal representation at all stages of the criminal justice system. Articles concerning this issue have been published in the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Examiner, Daily Record, Capital News Service, and Washington Post.
