The Mississippi Project at CUNY School of Law

Gladys and Jamie Scott are freed from prison after serving 16 years of double life sentences

2010-12-30T11:35:00.002-05:00

Mississippi's governor has agreed to free two sisters who served 16 years of a double life sentence for an armed robbery in which nobody was hurt and $11 was stolen.

Governor Haley Barbour said in a statement on Wednesday he was suspending indefinitely the sentences of Gladys and Jamie Scott in a case that has drawn national attention.

A condition of Gladys Scott's release is that she donate a kidney to her sister in an operation that should be performed urgently, the statement said, adding that Gladys had agreed to be a kidney donor for her sister, who requires dialysis.

The sisters were convicted of robbing at gunpoint two men driving them to a nightclub in Forest, north Mississippi, in 1993. They had no prior criminal record. Each was sentenced to two life terms.

"I have issued two orders indefinitely suspending the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott," Barbour said in a statement.

"The incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi," Barbour said.

Supporters of the Scotts including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People questioned the role the women played in the crime and said the fact they are black played a role in the judge's decision to impose such harsh sentences.

"The presiding judge in the trial, Judge Marcus Gordon, has a history of racially biased rulings and even the prosecutor of the case" became an advocate for the sisters, said NAACP president Benjamin Jealous in a statement.

The sisters were eligible for parole in 2014. A release date will be determined by the state's Department of Corrections.

(Reporting by Leigh Coleman, editing by Matthew Bigg and Jerry Norton)

2010 Mississippi Project Report- Louisiana

2010-03-26T13:58:00.003-04:00

Over winter break 2009-2010, thirteen CUNY law students went to Greenville, MS and New Orleans, LA to work with the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) and the Innocence Project in New Orleans (IPNO).

Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights

Four students went to the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights in Greenville, Mississippi to work for Executive Director and Founder Jaribu Hill. The students worked on a broad range of issues, including criminal justice, housing rights, and environmental racism. The students tracked down, read and summarized original case transcripts from state archives, performed various legal research projects, and interviewed family members of a woman in prison to learn more about new evidence in her case and the conditions of her confinement. The students researched mistreatment under confinement, Mississippi clemency laws, the standard of review for domestic violence in the state of Mississippi as it relates to self-defense, and post-conviction relief with regards to ineffective assistance of counsel.

The students also researched, investigated and documented nearly 50 different properties owned or managed by a particular agency. This documentation may be used in a future class action lawsuit against the agency for maintaining residential properties that create unsafe and degrading living conditions. It may also be used to garner community support for a proposed city ordinance which raises the standards for housing conditions and requires landlords to meet certain obligations to ensure decent affordable housing in the city of Greenville.

Finally, students met with community organizer and founder of the Forrest County Environmental Support Team (FCEST), Sherri Jones in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They participated in a tour of Hattiesburg, and learned of the 10+ year long struggle led by the African American community for monetary damages, medical care, and housing relocation. For years the community has been exposed to the chemical creosote, which was released through the pollution of a nearby creosote plant, originally run by the corporation Kerr-McGee. Exposure to the chemical has resulted in a high rate of cancer and stillbirths amongst the residents. FCEST is working with grassroots community activists throughout Mississippi who experienced the similar harm to their environmental and health and who are also fighting back against this form of systemic and institutional racism.

Orleans Public Defenders

One student worked with OPD on their Pre-Trial Detention Project. The Project is aimed at structurally enhancing representation between times of arrest and trial. The student conducted court visits three times a day for first appearances, as many jail visits possible between those court visits, supervised and trained law students to work in jails and at courts, and most importantly, trained law students about race, gender, and class power dynamics when working within the local court systems and its racialized populations.

Due to recent decisions in Louisiana courts, there has been a denial of substantive and procedural rights to anyone arrested. One of the responsibilities of a judge is to set bail for crimes charged. There are several considerations to be made when setting bail, such as the weight of the evidence against the arrestee and the ability of the person to pay the bail. However, the practice of many but not all of the directors of magistrate court is to deny the public defenders a chance to contest any portion of the police report, or gist. Essentially, the district attorney reads a police report to the judge or magistrate and then bail is set— without any of the statutorily defined information mentioned above about the arrestee. If the public defender tries to contest anything in the police report to ensure that the judge considers the weight of the evidence, they can be held in contempt. This has happened a few times already. This is one of the many structural problems that exist in the Orleans Parish and Louisiana Courts, and just one component of the Pre Trial Detention Project.

Innocence Project New Orleans

Several other students worked at the Innocence Project assisted attorneys and investigators with various projects. Three other students worked on a media assignment where they went to northern Mississippi to research people involved in a mid-1990's murder for which an IPNO client was convicted. They searched in newspaper archives for information regarding the crime, trial and conviction of the client.

Other students read and analyzed applications from prisoners seeking representation by IPNO. These students read the client’s application, located records pertinent to assessing the strength of the client’s case and prepared memoranda regarding potential next steps to take in the process of deciding whether to represent a particular applicant. They presented the applicant’s claims to IPNO attorneys, along with facts about the case, steps that could be taken to secure evidence or transcripts that would verify or contradict applicants' claims, and working conclusions regarding the potential value of pursuing a given case.

Students also gathered information for a Prosecutorial Misconduct survey. They researched potential cases of misconduct, gathering information such as counsel, judge, and docket numbers, by retrieving docketmasters from trial courts. All students wrote memoranda relaying their findings and analysis of the issues presented.

Founder and Director of RAE in the news

2009-11-15T11:39:00.002-05:00

"'I had a remarkable supporting case of people when I came home. When I first came home I started working for the death penalty law firm that represent guys on death row...I was blessed, but not my other exonerated brothers. They wasn't as blessed as I was when I came home.' It was this experience that drove him to set up his charity helping wrongfully convicted death row inmates to fit back into the outside world. The group provides housing, education and work opportunities to people who are otherwise shunned by society."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8346871.stm

We've got a new team of volunteers!

2009-10-07T15:40:00.003-04:00

The Mississippi Project gives a warm shout out to its newest members from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes at CUNY Law:

Renee Murdock, Lisa Zayas, Kimberly Sandberg, Julia Hernández, Robin Gordon-Leavitt, Emily Poppish, Angela Torregoza, Laura Girdwood, Richard Semegram, Phillip Azachi, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, Alejandro Lurati, Maggie Zambolla, and Kate Watson!

These folks will be heading down south in January of 2010. Stay tuned to this blog for their thoughts, experiences and ways you can help support them.

2010 Delegation Committment Forms Due Thursday 9/17/09 at 5pm!

2009-09-16T15:07:00.002-04:00

Committment Forms for this year's delegation are due to the Mississippi Project Mailbox by 5pm on Thursday Spet 17th.

Blank forms can also be picked up in the mailbox, please place your completed form in the manilla envelope. Or send an email to missproj@mail.law.cuny.edu and we'll send you an electronic form.

Stay tuned to news on the upcoming delegation and the projects the student volunteers will be working at!
-------------------------------
In the meantime, here is some now-old news on a New Orleans public defender.

Recruiting for 2010 delegation!

2009-03-24T15:01:00.005-04:00

Email missproj@mail.law.cuny.edu to become part of the 2010 Delegation. Or come to the report back. Dates to keep in mind:
This Thurs, March 26 SIT time report-back and involvement meeting
Tues., April 14 1-2:30pm drop in Miss Proj recruiting session - Second Floor Lounge
Tues., April 21 5pm April Commitment Forms due
Tues., April 28 3-4:15pm first meeting of the 2010 Delegation with the advisory board

TIMELINE FOR JANUARY 2010 DELEGATION

2009-03-24T09:53:00.002-04:00

MARCH 27 - LSA budget due

APRIL/MAY
Recruiting of 2Ls and 3Ls

JUNE/JULY
Board of Visitors Event in the Hamptons

SEPTEMBER
Recruiting 1Ls

OCTOBER
A student - usually the volunteer from the previous year - will contact each Mississippi-host organization in early October to confirm that
(1) the organization is interested in having a CUNY intern for 2 weeks in January 2010,
(2) how many interns the organization would like to have/can use,
(3) what projects/initiatives/assignments the intern(s) will either have to work on or be able to choose to work on and who the supervisors are for these potential projects. This does not need to be an overly detailed description but knowing who is in the supervisory role for each project will be crucial! The student will take this information back to our student committee at CUNY.

NOVEMBER 1
The student committee will examine the needs of ALL the host organizations and decide who and how many students will be assigned to each host by November 1.

NOVEMBER 2-16
In November, the CUNY student(s) who plan to come to each organization will contact the organization and the supervisor(s) they want to work with directly to confirm and should hear back from supervisors at the organization by November 16, leaving students ample time to make travel arrangements.

NOVEMBER 16-END OF DECEMBER
Between November 16 and the end of December, the student(s) and their placement supervisors should be in touch in preparation for a really productive 2 weeks. This is a great time for supervisors to share any preliminary or background materials about projects that they would like the student(s) to have so that they can hit the ground running.

JANUARY 4-15
The internship - Each volunteer is agreeing to work 8 hours a day, Mondays thru Fridays, with 1/2 for lunch. The volunteer may request additional hours/work, but we respectfully request that the supervisor refrain from requesting that any volunteer work more than 40 hours each week, or on the weekends.

Sex Ed Bill Died In Senate Committee on 3/3/09

2009-03-10T19:24:00.001-04:00

But getting the Bill through the house at all is a great step forward for sex ed in Mississippi.

MIssissippi Project 2009 Report-Back

2009-03-06T10:34:00.004-05:00

Come find out about what we all did during winter break, the state of human rights and civil liberties in the Delta, and how you can be a Mississippi Project rock star in January 2010.

Thursday, March 26, 12:15pm - 1:45pm (SIT time)
Room 250 (***NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE***)

Mississippi House passes comprehensive sex ed bill!

2009-02-23T07:44:00.001-05:00

The bill text, as passed the house is here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2009/html/HB/0200-0299/HB0234PS.htm . Note that it requires boys & girls to be taught about sexuality seperately.

I wonder what the Senate will say...

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11535

Mississippi State House Passes Comprehensive Sex Education Legislation

Legislation passed late last week in the Mississippi state House that would allow the state's Departments of Education and Health to test a comprehensive sexual education pilot program in two school districts. The bill is, in part, a reaction to a recently released Center for Disease Control report that shows that Mississippi has one of the sharpest increases in teen pregnancy rates in the nation, a higher teen birth rate, and rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases.

The proposed program would require parental consent for students to participate. According to KSLA, the program would require that female and male students be separated to discuss certain topics, including sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Abortion would not be addressed under the program outlined in the bill.

Sex education of any kind is not currently required in Mississippi schools, but there is a focus on abstinence-only programs. Democratic state Representative John Hines told the Clarion Ledger that the state's focus on abstinence is not working because "babies are having babies and they can't take care of them."

Media Resources: The Commercial Dispatch, 02/13/09; The Clarion Ledger, 02/13/09, 02/12/09; KSLA 12, 02/12/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 1/26/09

Back in NYC, Remembering NOLA

2009-01-27T15:09:00.003-05:00

Ebette, AJ & I were living in the upper 9th Ward and as such, were immersed in the absolute gentrification of that area. As we walked through our neighborhood, we saw endless homes with the infamous spray-painted X, detailing the date the home was checked, and the number of dead people found inside after Katrina. There were a lot of zeros, thankfully. But at the same time, there were so many small cafes and bars and restaurants popping up. It was such a rich neighborhood, but it had a sense of Williamsburg to it. It was becoming overrun with young, white hipsters. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to talk to several long-time residents of NOLA, who all said the same thing: as rich and diverse as the city is, it lost half its population after Katrina. The people returning are not the original residents.

I was conflicted because I fell in love in NOLA. I fell in love with the people, the city, its rich history and culture, as well as with the Innocence Project. The city is dripping with culture and full of people who want to share their stories and have a slow morning conversation with you as you try to break the habit of rushing to work. I could see myself living there, demanding justice. Yet I don't want to add to the gentrification and social injustice. I don't want to start building my life where someone else was forced to abandon theirs.

The most memorable moment of my time in NOLA was during our second weekend. I had wanted to bike down to the lower 9th Ward for a long time, but found myself hesitating. I had reservations about going b/c I didn't want to be a disaster tourist, and because I was scared of what I knew I was going to see. I did not know how to prepare for it and I did not know if I would be able to deal with it. All I knew is that I wanted and needed to see what the neighborhood was really like today, over 3 years post-Katrina.

Ebette, AJ & I biked down to the lower 9th together. It was empty. It was silent. It was so silent. It felt like another country. On the Industrial Canal side, where the levee broke, there were very few homes. Maybe 4 or 5 homes left standing -- barely standing -- over a span of several blocks. It went on like this for as far as I could see. These X's did not have zeros. They had numbers. The first number I saw was 8. Eight people had been left to die. It was a small two-family home. It looked like the family downstairs had sought refuge with the family upstairs. But nobody came for them.

The homes that were there were no longer homes, either. They were just empty structures, destroyed shells of what used to be people's homes. Mostly windowless, some with broken windows. Remnants of what used to be somebody's living room furniture, piled up as garbage, awaiting a pick up that has yet to happen -- over 3 years later.

In that pile of "debris," I saw a small piece of brick. I picked it up, held it, and imagined that it must have been a piece of somebody's home. A solid structure once, containing warmth, love, fights, laughter, tears, family dinners, a place for people to feel safe. A home. I held a chunk of what was left of this home in my hand. It got very hard to breathe. That piece of somebody's life that had been swept up into a pile of "garbage," I took with me. I will never forget.

It was utter destruction. I had a really hard time being there, seeing it all, yet I didn't want to leave. I felt like I shouldn't leave, like there was so much that needed to be done, and since no one was doing anything (with the exception of Brad Pitt's Make it Right New Orleans foundation -- I'm disgusted that our government has abandoned this neighborhood -- these people -- and it takes an actor's money to help them), that I should stay and do it.

I wondered how the government would have responded to the same situation had it happened on the Upper West Side. I know it wouldn't have abandoned those people.

A few days later, back at the Innocence Project office, I heard breaking news about the airliner landing in the Hudson River. Maybe I should have been full of joy that all of those folks had been promptly rescued. But through my relief, my mind kept returning to the same thought: this is what emergency response should be for everyone.

They were rescued within moments. Residents of the lower 9th Ward are still waiting.

My favorite Miss. Bill Introduced Today

2009-01-15T11:58:00.002-05:00

There is a bill before the House protecting,

"(ii) The right of the teacher to reasonably defend
himself or herself in the classroom if a student strikes or uses other physical force, or attempts to strike or use other physical force, against the teacher. In defending himself or herself, a teacher may use only so much force for a period of time as may be reasonably required to protect the teacher from apparently impending bodily harm or further bodily harm. Under no circumstances may a teacher use an amount of force that disproportionately exceeds the force threatened or actually used by the student against the teacher, and under no circumstances may
a teacher use any force against a student for a period of time longer than reasonably required to remove the threat of bodily harm caused by the student."

For Goetz fans, note that this is all based on the teacher's understanding that there is "impending bodliy harm."

Resurrection After Exoneration

2009-01-08T11:22:00.003-05:00

The Innocence Project is housed in a beautiful old building in the upper 9th ward here in New Orleans. Downstairs, Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE) is run by John Thompson, a death row exoneree who has begun to share his incredible story with us. RAE is a nonprofit that helps exonerees from Louisiana and Mississippi readjust to normal society after incarceration. John keeps getting phone calls and has been running off and now we understand why. His story is all over the news as the New Orleans DA is threatening to file for bankruptcy instead of paying John the compensation he was awarded in civil court - $15 million.

John spent 18 years in prison, 14 on death row, and evidence proving wrongful conviction of an armed robbery, which lead to his murder conviction, was uncovered only weeks before he was to be executed. This got him a new trial for the murder and he was found not-guilty. I'm unsure if there can ever be just compensation for 18 years of a person's life spent imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit - but I'm absolutely sure that the DA's office that blatently heaped false charges on John in order to get a murder conviction should not be able to worm out of paying up.

Read the AP story that has been picked up all over the country here.

And click here to see John on the news last night.

Legislative Session Notes

2009-01-08T00:14:00.003-05:00

This has been an eye-opening experience of America for me so far. The legislative session opened yesterday for Mississippi. This means that Senators and Representatives are presenting bills. They have until Monday, January 19 to present all bills and constitutional amendments for consideration. Some of the bills are the kind of thing I didn't realize was still open for discussion in this country. Apparently, everything is up for grabs.

What makes this more surreal is that as the bills are presented, they silently appear on the Mississippi legislature website. I have been checking compulsively. To get a flavor of what politicians in Mississippi have on their minds, you can join me here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/ . Follow the link for Bill Status for the by House or Senate Committees.

Here is the text of my favorite bill of the day - it's short enough to include the whole thing here:

House Bill 25:
The State Board of Education shall require every textbook that includes the teaching of evolution in its contents to include the following language on the inside front cover of the textbook:

"The word 'theory' has many meanings, including: systematically organized knowledge; abstract reasoning; a speculative idea or plan; or a systematic statement of principles. Scientific theories are based on both observations of the natural world and assumptions about the natural world. They are always subject to change in view of new and confirmed observations.

This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things. No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered a theory.
Evolution refers to the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced living things. There are many topics with unanswered questions about the origin of life which are not mentioned in your textbook, including: the sudden appearance of the major groups of animals in the fossil record (known as the Cambrian Explosion); the lack of new major groups of other living things appearing in the fossil record; the lack of transitional forms of major groups of plants and animals in the fossil record; and the complete and complex set of instructions for building a living body possessed by all living things. Study hard and keep an open mind."

To see how this bill is doing later in the session, click here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2009/pdf/history/HB/HB0025.xml

MIssissippi is Number 1 in the Nation in Teen Births

2009-01-08T00:06:00.002-05:00

The Centers for Disease Control released a study today of vital statistics for 2006 (the most recent available.). Mississippi is now number one in births to teenagers ages 15-19. In 2005, it was third in the nation.

I spent some of my time today responding to this news by creating a fact sheet about sex ed and take-action letter with Shawna Davies, the Reproductive Freedom Project coordinator.

Here's the content we put together. It's a pretty shocking picture of the state of sex education in Mississippi:

_____
January 7, 2009

To Members of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Coalition:

Mississippi is failing its youth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a report published today, ranked Mississippi FIRST in the nation in teen birth. Nationally, 41.9 teenagers 15-19 per 1,000 gave birth in 2006. In Mississippi, 68.4 teenagers 15-19 per 1,000 gave birth in 2006. There was a one-year increase of approximately 1,000 teen births between 2005 and 2006 in Mississippi. Additionally, the Mississippi State Department of Health Public Statistics office reports that 173 girls aged 12-14 in Mississippi gave birth in 2006. In 2006, there were 212,411 girls aged 10 to 19 in Mississippi; 8,701 of them became pregnant.

Mississippi law currently encourages harmful practices in the public schools. Sexuality education in the public schools is not required. Where schools opt to have sexuality education, the law requires that all programming emphasize an abstinence-only-until-marriage philosophy. The law does not allow in-school sexuality education classes to include demonstrations of how to use condoms or information about other forms of contraception. Despite abstinence-only-until-marriage programming, Mississippi’s rate of birth outside of marriage is striking: today’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study reports that nationally, 38.5% of all births happened outside of marriage in 2006; in Mississippi, 52.8% of all births happened outside of marriage.

Without legislative guidance, school districts are wasting resources. $5,971,147 in taxpayer dollars were spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Mississippi in 2006. As of 2006, approximately 8 Mississippi school districts—the only districts in the state to have implemented a sexuality education program at all—were receiving federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funding. Districts that receive this funding do not teach our young people what they need to know about reproductive health and contraception to make educated choices if they are sexually active.

Congress has allocated a billion dollars since 1996 for programs that focus exclusively on abstinence-only. This funding censors vital health care information about contraceptives. As a recipient of these federal funds, the Mississippi Department of Human Services is not allowed to discuss contraception with teens except to emphasize failure rates. We’re missing the chance to have our government use our resources to maximize learning, safety, health and happiness.

Abstinence-only-until-marriage programming does not work. A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study published on January 1, 2009, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Pediatrics found that, when researchers controlled for variables such as attitudes about sex teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage do not differ from their non-pledging peers regarding levels of sexual activity. They are just as likely to have sex outside of marriage, had sex for the first time at the same age, and have the same number of sexual partners. The study also revealed that teenagers who took the pledge were less likely to use any form of birth control or protect themselves from disease and infection.

Mississippi needs comprehensive sexuality education. Comprehensive sexuality education teaches that not having sex is the best and only fail-safe way to prevent pregnancy and the transmission of STDs; it also teaches students how to make well-informed decisions about their health if they decide to become sexually active. Mississippi youth make tough decisions on a daily basis. Adult leaders should provide medically accurate information to help them make decisions that protect their health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, research has clearly shown that the most effective programs to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS are comprehensive ones that include a focus on delaying sexual behavior and provide information on how sexually active young people can protect themselves. Curricula that stress waiting to have sex and provide complete information about using contraception can significantly delay the initiation of sex, reduce the frequency of sex, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom or contraceptive use among teens. In a 2008 peer-reviewed scientific study, 15-19 year olds who participated in comprehensive programs that stressed the importance of delaying sex and provided information about contraceptive use were significantly less likely to report teen pregnancy than those who received either no sexuality education or attended abstinence-only-until-marriage programs

Major medical groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, support comprehensive sexuality education. King County, Washington, has made its comprehensive sexuality education curriculum and lessons available for free on the internet at http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/famplan/educators/FLASH.aspx . Follow the link or type this address into your web browser to see a curriculum that works.

“Nationwide polls show an overwhelming majority of parents want sex education programs to cover where to get contraception and how to use it,” said Valencia Robinson, who works with teens as the AIDS Action Mississippi Director. “It’s time for Mississippi to do the right thing by its youth.”

No districts in Mississippi currently teach comprehensive sexuality education. You have the power to change Mississippi’s status from a state in crisis to a national leader in sexuality education. Support funding for sexuality education in Mississippi schools. Demand that our students receive effective, comprehensive and medically accurate information. Help make Mississippi safe for our youth. The legislative session has started. Contact your House Representatives and Senators today to let them know that you are alarmed by the recent Centers for Disease Control study and urge them to support sexuality education reform. You can contact your Representative at (601) 359-3770 and your Senator at (601) 359-3770 during the legislative session. If you can’t get through to them directly, contact the ACLU of Mississippi at (601) 354-3408.

You can also get involved in your local public school board. Current Mississippi law allows a school board to elect to implement comprehensive sexuality education by voting for it. Contact your school board members, share what you know about the state of sexuality education in Mississippi and the startling results, and urge them to give youth in their districts the education they so desperately need.

Please contact the ACLU for materials and sample letters to use when contacting public officials.
----

IPNO Arrival

2009-01-04T01:20:00.003-05:00

I am thrilled that we finally arrived in New Orleans to work with the Innocence Project of New Orleans (IPNO)! I am looking forward to learning more about the cases we will be working on over next few weeks. Monday, we are headed to Jackson, Mississippi to begin research on 4 cases. Hopefully we will find information that is valuable to IPNO.

It is quite disheartening, however, to see that this great and unique city still has not recovered from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. It's three years later and to me, it looks like Katrina happened less than a year ago. This is just unacceptable! I have already learned so much about about the city and am sure I will come away from this trip with more experience and reinvigorated for the second semester. Work like this reminds me of why I am in law school!

Hello From Jackson MS

2009-01-03T20:44:00.002-05:00

I have arrived in Jackson MS with my partner Dylan. There is a great community here bubbling with activism. We are staying with a couple who moved here a few years ago from California: Sage and Brad (and their dog Ziggy). Sage works at the Jackson Free Press (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com) - an awesome independent free weekly newspaper. Brad is the manager of the High Noon Cafe in Jackson's Rainbow Food Coop (http://www.rainbowcoop.org/cafe.htm). They live in a little house in Fondren with chickens and bees in the yard. It is nice to be so welcome.

Here's how I know we're in the South: catfish, no sidewalks, Sage was telling me about a friend of hers who grew up in the northern Delta and had segregated prom.

Looking at the Winter MS ACLU newsletter I was struck by an article about student speech after the Presidential election: the ACLU is respoding to multiple reports of students being disciplined for saying Barak Obama's name in school or discussing the election. Read the newsletter here: http://www.msaclu.org/ .

Where we will be in relation to each other

2008-12-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

View Larger Map

2009 Delegation Is Headed to the Delta

2008-12-03T14:15:00.008-05:00

The 2009 Delegation is getting ready to head down to the Delta. We will be reporting from our project sites in January.

Who we are and where we are headed:

Eric Kushman, J.D. Candidate 2011, is headed to The Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, founded by Jaribu Hill, CUNY Law 1995, is a worker advocacy organization that sees as its mission, providing organizing support, legal representation and training for low-wage, non-union workers in the state of Mississippi. Through direct action campaigns, organizing sessions and trainings, we seek to raise awareness among workers as to the many ways their human rights are violated in the workplace and in their communities. Through strong partnerships with our worker members, we seek to develop strategies to combat racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Through local, national and international networking and coalition building, we seek to build bridges between workers in the southern region, other parts of the country and the world. http://www.msworkerscenter.org

Shirley Lin, 2008 Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights Delegate, said, “Interning with CUNY Law alumna Jaribu Hill '95 at MWCHR was an awe-inspiring experience. For two weeks, we assisted the Workers' Center's staff by conducting legal research on systemic labor and employment issues that clients and community members continue to face on the job. For the Housing is a Human Right Campaign, the four of us drove from town to town to investigate and document residents' experience with housing discrimination and egregious living conditions that most often go unaddressed due to absentee landlordism and ineffective housing laws. The Mississippi Project strengthened my commitment to challenge the law to conform to its own standards, and rise to a human rights mandate to provide justice for all.”

_________________

Amanda Jack (AJ), 2011, Ebette Fortune, 2010, Joshi Valentine, 2009, and Paul Catafago, 2011, are headed to Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) represents innocent prisoners serving life sentences in Louisiana and Mississippi, and assists them with their transition into the free world upon their release. IPNO works in the states with the country's highest incarceration rates, and the highest rate of wrongful conviction in the country. By identifying and remedying cases and causes of wrongful conviction, IPNO engages in high impact, frontline advocacy in the courts of law and public opinion, and leads a community-based response to the mistakes made by our criminal justice system. Since its inception in 2000, IPNO has achieved the release of twelve wrongfully convicted prisoners. www.ip-no.org

Beena Ahmad, 2008 IPNO Delegate said, "We came back with a sense of confidence that we had the capacity to uncover a wrong and the importance of joining forces to accomplish our individual and collective goals."

____________________

Paula Z. Segal, 2011, is headed to the ACLU of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Project. The Project is working to make accurate sex-education programs that include information that teenagers need to make healthy life decisions available in Mississippi and will be introducing a comprehensive sex education bill in the 2009 state legislative session, to limit restrictions on abortion and to keep Mississippi's only abortion clinic open, and on cases involving pregnant woman in Mississippi who are charged with murder of their unborn children through substance abuse. www.msaclu.org/Issues/ReproFreedom.html

Davida Silverman, 2008 ACLU Delegate said, “The Mississippi Project was not just about the work. It was about being part of something bigger and knowing that I could build and sustain social justice movements as a legal advocate. I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Mississippi Project and hope that the Project continues for years to come."

2 Million Evacuate New Orleans, Brace for Hurricane Gustav and Aftermath

2008-09-03T18:27:00.007-04:00

Tens of thousands of homes in New Orleans remain without power today, as Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the two million residents who evacuated the City to escape Hurricane Gustav's pounding of the Gulf Coast would be allowed to return to their homes. At least 10 deaths in connection to the hurricane have been reported. More than 1.2 million homes and businesses across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arksansas remain without electricity. Another storm, Hurricane Hanna, is predicted to hit Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas within the next few days.

The Mississippi Project's thoughts are with the staff at Innocence Project New Orleans, the Mississippi Workers' Center, and the ACLU-Mississippi.

For more information:

Hurricane Gustav Emergency Resources: links to relief efforts and emergency info
Interviews with New Orleans residents and workers from WBAI Democracy Now! (9/3/08)
Hurricane Gustav News and Storm Tracking on Nola.com/Times-Picayune

MP Co-founder Bob Rose '89...PILA Honoree '08

2008-04-14T17:48:00.006-04:00

PILA honoree Bob Rose with 14 Mississippi Project alums...including his wife Sylvia!

A hearty round of applause to Mississippi Project co-founder Bob Rose '89, who was honored by the CUNY Law Public Interest Law Association last Friday at Hunter College. Rose, a lawyer and activist, recounted how he joined fellow CUNY Law students Jaribu Hill, Camille Massey, and Desiree Hopkins in renting three identical vans bearing New York plates for a journey that would take them to Project Voice in coastal Biloxi, MS, where they were hosted by former prison guard and whistleblower Andrea Gibbs); to people's lawyer Chokwe Lumumba's Jackson, MS practice to investigate the suspicious jailhouse hanging of Andre Jones and other prisoners, and finally to the Center for Constitutional Rights in Greenville, MS, where Rose and others investigated outright denial of voting rights to African American residents continuing into the early 90s.

The inaugural delegation had a frigid welcome. Letters to the newspaper editors criticizing their presence immediately began appearing after their arrival, making it quite clear they weren't welcome. CUNY Law professor Frank Deale joined the law students for a couple of days' respite in Memphis, and his presence kept the delegates going.

Rose, now a supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC, remembers hoping that "in the end, we had some impact on the community there. But it was clear to me on the ride home that the impact that the trip had on us was much greater. I'm very heartened that CUNY's continuing this project for both those reasons: to make those contributions to Mississippi and the cause for civil rights, and, I think it's going to help develop more strong, progressive, new lawyers."

Congrats to 2008 MP'er Erin Tomlinson!

2008-03-25T17:21:00.005-04:00

1L Erin Tomlinson, a 2008 MP delegate, heads back to NOLA this summer to intern full-time with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center! Erin has been awarded the James M. Ragen Memorial Mississippi Project Fellowship, which will allow her to continue her work in legal defense from her trip this January at the Innocence Project New Orleans, this time with a focus on providing legal aid to people facing the death penalty in Louisiana.

Mississippi Project Invites Applications for the James M. Ragen Memorial Summer Fellowship

2008-02-14T16:24:00.004-05:00

Created to further advance civil and human rights in the South, the fellowship awards $4,500 to one student to work in Mississippi or Louisiana in the tradition of “law in the service of human needs.” The fellowship is awarded to a student who exhibits a commitment to empowering the disenfranchised and advancing civil and human rights in Mississippi and/or Louisiana. In a written essay of no more than 1000 words, students should identify an issue they plan to focus on and its connection to advancing civil and human rights in the South, potential organizations or public interest lawyers they intend to work with, and how this experience will enhance their own development as public interest lawyers in training. Preference will be given to students who demonstrate a sustained commitment to advancing civil and human rights in the South. If awarded the fellowship, it is the student’s responsibility to secure public interest employment that meets the eligibility requirements of the award and submit an acceptance letter detailing the position by April 15, 2008. The fellowship funds a legal internship of 35 hours per week for at least 10 weeks during the summer when no other compensation or academic credit is received. No person receiving compensation from the internship employer or summer funding from another source will be eligible for this fellowship.

Fellowship Application Deadline: February 19, 2008 To Apply: Please email your essay to scholarships@mail.law.cuny.edu

A is for Advocate

2008-01-14T18:49:00.001-05:00

Either the delta is busting out the box with its kaleideskopic chaos, or we shave it down so it fits obediently inside. These are two modes to rationalize the unfamiliar when you're far from home. We arrive to a land whose history creates the expectations for the work we will do. At the airport with some time to kill, I checked out an exhibit on the Jackson Movement . I was reminded that I tread on hallowed land, where the most important human rights battles were fought and won not 50 years ago. Coming from Queens college, we embark on the 16th year of this trip. Going back further, we remember Mr. Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, who were murdered by the KKK in Mississippi during the freedom summer of 1964. Andrew Goodman was a student at Queens College.

Indeed our trip invokes a history that deserves more than synopsis. There is the history of slavery, the movement, and the apartheid that continues to fester on the periphery.
School test scores in MS are dreadfully low. Blues music is great. Next comes hospitality, and catfish. Some housing is in dreadful condition, and some clubs can be excessively violent. But is this all we can say about the delta? A plus and minus tally of the south is fatal to its autonomy. This land must speak for itself! As we enframe mississippi, we risk depriving a movement of its beauty.

From all of this, a question emerges about what we are doing in our role as advocates. Are lawyers speaking for the voiceless? This is problematic. On the other hand, it's unacceptable for a milquetoast advocate to stand alongside a movement while the system eats it for breakfast. There have been examples of both realities on this trip.

The short answer is that big old ears are the most valuable tool. For community workers, legal listening begins by remembering that courts provide relief, but not liberation. returning a plaintiff to the status quo ante through compensation (the state prior to damage) is not necessarily a delivery of justice. So as we learn to apply the law, how, when, and where to apply the law are vital considerations. Will we push a struggle through the system, or inject legal issues into the struggle? The latter means organizing. (This is not what we are taught at CUNY per se. ) It is the life affirming and therapeutic dialouge that brings people together in community, builds power, and breaks down hierarchies. For each of us, this process will look different. No doubt each struggle is unique and individual as each person. But seriously open your ears.

2008-01-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

Within New Orleans the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is still visible. Imagine the city as a bowl, with the areas of higher elevation (the rim of the bowl) closer to the Mississippi and the middle of the city actually a few feet below see level. In some neighborhoods like the French Quarter, if you are not looking for signs of Katrina, you might miss them. The French Quarter, home to the infamous Bourbon Street, was barely touched by flood waters because of its higher elevation. However, if you look closely you will see vacant, boarded-up businesses.

We took a self-guided driving tour designed for visitors to New Orleans who want to witness the effects of the Katrina as well as the rebuilding efforts. The tour contained narrative information explaining levees and why they failed, New Orleans history, stories behind the differing neighborhoods, the science underlying coastal erosion and restoration, and tales of heroism and help. The narrators, all civic leaders of New Orleans, included New Orleans musician Charmaine Neville, Women of the Storm founder Anne Milling, and King Milling, chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration.

While I found the tour and stories heartbreaking, I feel that the stories are ones that need to be heard. I came to New Orleans six months after Katrina as part of an alternative spring break for college students who volunteered gutting houses and working with grassroots organizations engaged in community organizing. Retracing my steps through neighborhoods like the lower 9th ward, I found that progress has been slow. Piles of debris have been removed and open fields of grass with cement patches where houses’ foundations once stood are the only reminders that this was once a neighborhood. There are occasional houses that residents are starting to rebuild with FEMA trailers parked outside and signs saying “roots run deep here” meaning the residents are planning to take charge of their neighborhood and rebuilding efforts. In another part of the lower 9th, there were multiple pink tents set up to represent the homes which were devastated, serving as symbols for the construction of new "green" eco-friendly homes that are supposed to go up in March. Organizations like Common Ground and the Make It Right Foundation are working in the 9th ward, supporting the community that was distinguished by the fact that more residents in the area owned their homes than in any other part of the city.

Photos to come this evening!

2008-01-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

Our trip to Jackson, MS to track down trial transcripts was for the most part successful. We spent more time at the archives than we had expected because of the complicated filing system that made it difficult to locate files. It actually took most of us a day with several trips from the archives to the state Supreme Court clerk’s office before we were able to locate the transcripts. Even then, the oldest case file from 1987 was no where to be found with no explanation as to why it was gone. In that case, we are hoping the defense attorney still has a file with the transcript.

We read the transcripts to gather information about key witnesses and evidence that could give us a better idea as to what could prove or disprove a prisoner’s innocence claim. In reading through the transcripts it became evident that some of the prisoners were convicted on very little evidence and/or weak testimony. Also, most of the cases took place in smaller communities where the jurors knew a majority of the trial participants, leaving me to wonder how the defendant was guaranteed a fair trial.

The information we gathered from the transcripts and the research we will be engaged in in the coming days will determine if IPNO deems our cases appropriate for increased review at which time full-fledged investigations will be conducted. This means that with the 3 days left of our trip, most of that time will be spent on the road traveling across southern Mississippi to speak with the prisoners themselves, the defense attorneys, and key witnesses.

We started tracking down witnesses Friday but soon discovered a major challenge with this task. Due to Hurricane Katrina, many people not only evacuated their homes but have also relocated multiple times since their evacuation, assuming they have returned to their home states in the first place. There are still thousands of people from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama spread through out the rest of the country. There are still families searching for missing relatives, unsure if they are even alive. As far as we know, there is no directory of persons living in FEMA trailers either.

Courtney and I drove to Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis along the Gulf Coast. It was immediately evident that smaller communities past the New Orleans' city limits, if not completely wiped off the map, are still rebuilding. Even along the highway we could see empty shopping centers, houses, and apartment complexes. We were told that before Katrina, there were beautiful towns all along the Gulf but that the hurricane destroyed most of these. Indeed driving through Gulfport to locate one house, Erin and Reka entered a cul-de-sac where the house should have been only to find nothing.

The Processing of Criminal Cases in Louisiana

2008-01-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

On Friday, the Innocence Project team observed arraignments in Jefferson Parish. http://www.jpclerkofcourt.us/24thJDC/Judges.asp. While it is true that there are a number of differences between New York’s criminal justice system and Louisiana’s, I was struck by the number of similarities between our systems. We watched as defendants consented to waive their right to a speedy trial, similar to the practice in Criminal Court, Queens and Suffolk County. The majority of clients were indigent (qualified for public defender services) and people of color. Most of the cases were drug related. It appeared as though the defense attorneys met their clients for the first time just moments before arraignment. The clients played a passive role in the arraignment, standing to the side of the podium where the prosecutor and defense attorney stood. The defense attorney explained the plea to the client on the spot, while the prosecutors bantered with the judge and court officers an arm’s length away.

Battle at the Shipyard

2008-01-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

Movement is sometimes slow as molasses, barely perceptible and sticky. Nine years had passed since the fifty or so employees (there are about 75 clients in all!) gathered at a community center in Biloxi by the Gulf on Sunday first took their struggle against a shipbuilding giant to court. They sued the company for creating a work environment that not only condoned but encouraged racism. Workers were forced to put up with graffiti of racial slurs, hanging nooses, threats and terrorizing pranks. Some of the workers told us they had worked at that site for ten, fifteen, to beyond thirty years. Jena 6. Columbia University.
Nooses are still a commonplace occurrence here. See Jaribu's article. The Mississippi state flag which has the Confederate flag embossed within it hangs all over the place, including outside the State Capitol. It’s shocking that nooses and Confederate flags are not just isolated outbreaks of a disease that had been all but eradicated.

Yesterday, Mike, Stephan, Shirley and I were fortunate enough to witness a meeting for a settlement that could signal the end of this stage of the struggle. The workers faced a tough decision – whether to accept the settlement proposal or to go further with trial. We contemplated what we would do in their shoes, and found ourselves weighing the practical realities that play a role i.e. what is the climate in Mississippi for racial justice, the strength of the movement, what would a jury decide, what is the politics of the judge, and the cost of trial to name a few.
I have been thinking about Professor Loffredo’s admission at his panel discussion with Frances Fox Piven that it is a bleak time for fighting for economic justice. In Mississippi it is a bleak time for fighting for racial justice, for workers’ rights, and I have come to realize, human rights. Jaribu has brought it home that our domestic struggles often labeled “civil rights” are no different than those being waged in Mexico, India, China or wherever else as “human rights.” The right to live and work decently without fear of losing life and limb is a human right. Shirley and I talked about how you fight these seemingly hopeless struggles anyway when you have a stake in the community, when it is your workplace, when it is your people, whatever you identify with that makes the fight for justice personal and real. It has taken some reminding that we are not in a foreign place. Mississippi is America. New York has its struggles. Movement may be slow, change may seem impossible, but the alternative seems to be standing still.

Verbs, Nouns, Punctuation and Everything In Between

2008-01-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

I always wondered how it is the ACLU determined which cases to pursue and which ones to dismiss and I finally found out how today when I was invited to join in on the intake process. The intake process is when the attorneys review complaint forms and then ask the big question: is this a constitutional issue? However, in order for the attorneys to start the intake process, there must be complaint forms, which are forms that people fill out describing an incident which they believe is unjust.

The complaints reviewed during today's intake touched on almost every topic from a driver being pulled over by the police during a traffic stop to prisoners writing the organization about their prison treatment. You would think that the biggest hurdle would be determining if an incident raised constitutional concerns, but in actuality, the biggest struggle was trying to understand the complaint forms.

In 2003, Mississippi education scores (reading and math) were ranked 48th in the nation and those scores were reflected in the forms. One complaint was filed by a high school student who felt he was being treated unequally in his school. I am very sure that to the student, his form made perfect sense, but it took three careful readings of the complaint by about six people to even understand that it had something to do with his high school. Luckily a staff member remembered talking to the student over the phone and could clarify the situation for everyone.

After the attorneys began to debate over whether or not the issue was something worth looking into, I could not help but question how effective a legal organization can be when people are not even educated enough to articulate what is happening to them.

Earlier in the day I was working with Shawna, the awesome Reproductive Freedom Project Director, on Teen Chat. (Teen Chat is the peer sexual health education program spearheaded by the MS ACLU to supplement the lack of sexual health education in the schools). In order to assess what the students already know about sexual health, I designed a pre-test which asked questions such as “True or False: A girl can't get pregnant if she has sex underwater” and “The birth control pill protects a person from getting: a) sexually transmitted diseases, b) pregnant or c) HIV.”

Shawna had warned me that the students from this one particular county did not have superb reading skills and to take this into account when I designed the survey. I took this to heart and tried my best to to not use big words or phrase questions in such a way that would be confusing. Shawna reviewed the surveys I had made and reassured me that they were very good but needed to be simpler. For instance, Shawna wanted me to not use the word “designed” because she noticed that during the program last year any word that had “gn” was confusing to the students; they didn't know how to pronounce those kind of words.

Now knowing how far behind Mississippi is in education, I have yet another item added to my list of things that need to change. After all, how possible will it be have sexual health education in schools if students can't pronounce “diagnosed”?

Calling for a New Freedom Summer-- Mississippi ACLU Reproductive Rights Project

2008-01-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

Mississippi is like another world. Here is a state that has a history of police brutality, deeply held religious convictions, extreme racial disparity and poverty. Not much has changed. Despite the civil rights movement, the State is still far behind the rest of nation in its citizens basic rights. Most people when you say this, will nod and say, "Well it's the South and it's Mississippi, what can you do?" However, until you come to this State and see for yourself just how much disparity there is in Mississippi, will you fully grasp the people's passion for social justice and deep need for radical change and community organizing efforts. Since being here, I have felt an energy, an indescribable yet palpable will for change.

The ACLU of Mississippi is a leading force in social change and equality. Working out of Jackson, I was assigned to be an intern for two and a half weeks primarily to work on reproductive rights issues. Mississippi has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, which have also limited access to birth control and sexual health education, as well as severely limiting abortion clinic operations. The Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU wants to change all this; however, the organization, despite their gallant efforts, passion and dedication face the barriers of being woefully underfunded and understaffed. Here is a state that has the most restrictive abortion laws, the most stringent judicial bypass procedures for minors who do not have parental consent and virtually no sexual health education and yet there is no Planned Parenthood, NOW, Feminist Majority or Center for Reproductive Health. Perhaps those organizations feel that Mississippi is a lost cause or that the restrictions would make it virtually impossible for their organization to exist or perhaps they are afraid of making things worse, but their absence in a state that clearly needs their help means that the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project (which is only one person) is being pulled into too many different directions at once.

As the only intern who came to this office, I have been instantly thrown into work. Within the first half hour of being in the office, a staff attorney discussed the current political climate in Mississippi and the possible litigation the ACLU may bring forward dealing with voting rights and alternative schools. When it came to reproductive rights, it was explained that this was not the area of his expertise-- any chance I could come up with some ideas of how to litigate on reproductive rights?

Aside from the amazing opportunity to apply what I learned from constitutional law to what I know about the restrictions placed on reproductive health, most of the work I see the MS ACLU doing is community organizing and legislative work. Currently, I am helping the Reproductive Rights Project Coordinator with legislative work for sexual health education and the formation of peer sexual health clubs.

Peer sexual health education (Teen Chat) is a perfect example of the community organizing work the ACLU is doing around reproductive rights. Some students play basketball, others are involved with the honor society and a precious few pass out condoms and hold clandestine workshops after school. Teen Chat was designed only a few years ago but I believe it was only implemented last year (with the help of former MS Project delegates) and is getting revamped again this year. The system is easy: hold a community meeting asking concerned parents and children ages 10-17 to see if any are interested in being peer leaders. Those who are interested then go through a month-long training program so that they learn about their anatomy, changing bodies, contraceptive devices, STD and HIV prevention and forming healthy relationships. Once graduated from the program, the peer leaders are then given instruction on basic community organizing and then go into their schools and do what is needed to distribute the information about sexual health that is evidently lacking in the schools. To make sure this program is effective, my task is to redo some of the training curriculum so that as much information can be packed into the training month without burdening the students too much so that they drop out of the program.

At the same time, the Reproductive Freedom Coordinator is meeting with principals to see if any are willing to actually allow a sexual health club at their school. The principals are worried about Board of Education approval and feel as if their hands are tied. Is there anything the Equal Access Act can help in this regard? We don't know yet-- we'll learn as soon as I'm done doing research. In addition, to help sway the principals to allow such clubs, I am doing research to find the correlation between teen pregnancy and drop out rates and the inclusion of comprehensive sexual health education and better performance in schools.

On the legislative front, the ACLU drafted legislation that will provide for comprehensive sexual health education. Once the session starts, I will need to follow session activity to help ensure the success of the bill and monitor anti-choice and anti-civil liberty bills.

Due to the underfunding of the MS ACLU, the understaffed office and the wide array of issues the ACLU takes interest in, other staff members have asked for my assistance in their work. An issue the ACLU took notice of was the amount of arrests being made in the Delta (the portion of MS that lays along the river; the population is mainly comprised of impoverished African-Americans). The arrests were made during a drug sting operation, but the ACLU suspected the drug raids to be a tool of racial profiling and had heard through the grapevine that the arrests were unlawful.

To better understand the situation and see if there was anything the ACLU could do to help the citizens of Moss Point, a town in the Delta that had recently been targeted with a drug sting operation, a town hall meeting was held at a church. Over 70 people attended the meeting, all of whom had stories of police officers and DEA agents coming into their houses without warrants, arresting people walking down the street for not having an ID and defense attorneys who had told innocent arrested citizens to plead guilty because it would be easier.

The people who attended the meetings varied in their education of civil liberties. A fair number knew that the police could not come into their house without a warrant, but few felt empowered enough to deny them entrance into their house, as the cops had been using intimidation techniques to gain entry without warrants. Most citizens did not realize that warrants had to be specific to a place and person and felt powerless when police officers and DEA agents had a warrant for the house but began searching their cars or arrested a person not listed on the warrant.

To better help the citizens of Moss Point, the members from the ACLU gave basic information on rights when dealing with the police and took down information from people to better see if there is a case that can be brought against the government.

I have only been here for five days and yet I already feel compelled to come back and do more for the ACLU and the people whose daily activities are encompassed by extreme injustice. I am sure I will learn of more efforts to restrict the freedoms of the people here once the legislative session starts and I am looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead of me.

2008-01-05T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hi y'all - Finally we had a warm day in New Orleans! We spent the afternoon prepping for our trip to Jackson, Mississippi tomorrow night. We are heading to capital to visit the state archives and read the trial transcripts of the cases we are researching. We are hoping the transcripts will provide some missing information (such as lists of evidence and witnesses' testimonies) in the case files.

This is the crew (top: Erin, Bridgette, Reka, Madhuri - front: Virginia and Courtney) on the ferry from Algiers Point, where we are staying, to the French Quarter where the IPNO office is located. Today we visited the renown Cafe du Monde for some cafe au lait and beignets.

Driving outside the French Quarter the effects of Katrina were more visible. Besides running into another tent city of homeless people under an overpass, we drove through several neighborhoods where the number of abandoned, dilapidated houses and businesses far out numbered those that have been rebuilt, with occupants who have returned.

2008-01-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

Hi y'all - the New Orleans crew spent yesterday and today getting acquainted with the New Orleans Innocence Project, meeting staff and learning about the work we’re taking on for the next two weeks.

IPNO investigates cases in Louisiana and the southern half of Mississippi (they recently opened an office in northern Mississippi to cover that area). According to IPNO information, “Louisiana has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world and the highest per capita rate in the world of people sentenced to life without parole. In 2006, Mississippi had the 3rd highest incarceration rate in the country and the world.” The majority of these people are poor and people of color – in Mississippi, for example, 35% of the population as a whole is African American whereas over 70% of the state’s prisoners are African Americans.

Staff member J.T. explained that to us the state is obligated to provide an attorney for prisoners on death row; for those sentenced to life in prison, the state is not statutorily obligated to provide counsel. J.T. himself was wrongly convicted and spent 18 years in prison, 14 of which were on death row. He was exonerated in 2003 and now works for IPNO and runs Resurrection After Exoneration, the first exoneree run re-entry initiative in the country.

The nine cases that our crew will be working on are in southern Mississippi. It seems like we will be traveling all over the lower half of the state, maybe we will even run into other members of the group in Jackson and Greenville!

Tomorrow we are off to explore New Orleans. So far, we have visited the French Quarter and Algiers Point, which appear to have recovered from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We haven’t had much chance to visit other areas. Although getting lost driving around the Superdome, on one of the coldest nights here this winter, we saw a group of homeless people under an over pass. Sleeping bags and tents spread out for several blocks with at least 100 people seeking cover under the cement expressway overhead. (According to the Christian Science Monitor in March 2007, on any given night 12,000 people in New Orleans need shelter, before Katrina this number was 6,000).

I think we have yet to see the extent of the slow recovery of the city and the difficulties of living here after the hurricane.

On the ground in Greenville, Mississippi!

2008-01-04T00:20:00.001-05:00

The Mississippi Project '08 delegates have arrived in the Delta!

Here, in Greenville, MS, Jaribu Hill '96 (who founded the Mississippi Project at CUNY Law), gave a warm and inspirational welcome to the four of us interns placed with the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights (Beena, Mike, Shirley and Stephan). We had met up in the capital city of Jackson, MS Thursday night and drove into Greenville (pop: 41,600) after an unplanned but scenic detour through Canton and Yazoo City.

Our orientation yesterday included an overview of Greenville, so Jaribu and program director LaToya Davis packed the crew into the Center's van and launched us straight into field work: following up on reports of rental homes deteriorating from systemic neglect, near the Greenville levee's banks. Today, we head to back to Jackson, where the Center recently opened its second office and where we'll do legislative visits with the Black Caucus when the new session begins next Tuesday. Check back for photos, coming soon!

Mississippi Project Fundraiser Party @ Leela Lounge

2007-11-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

What: Mississippi Project Fundraiser Party
When: Friday, Nov 16th
9pm-onwards
Where:Leela Lounge
West 3rd Street
(Between Broadway & Mercer)
http://www.leelalounge.com/leelarestaur ... gemenu.pdf
How: Take A/C/E/B/D/F/V to W. 4th St, OR 6 to Astor OR N/R/W to 8th St or 1/9/2 to Christopher St.
$: Suggested donation $5-$10-$20

Our blog: http://www.themississippiproject.blogspot.com/

We hope you can come!!!

Kellyoke Night a Success!!

2007-11-05T10:34:00.001-05:00

Thanks to everyone who sang their hearts out, and packed into the Gaslight to cheer their classmates for the Mississippi Project on Nov. 1st...we raised more than $900 through raffle sales and the generosity of our supporters! Congrats to Mona Patel '10 for winning the 25% of the pot, which she contributed back to the Project so that we brought in $909 for the cause...

CUNY Law brought down the house with "Baby's Got Back" and "I Ain't Got Nobody." Thanks to Miley and Mags for letting us into the Gaslight for the third year running, and to Kelly for putting up with our stomping! Some highlights:

Nov. 1st, 8pm: MP's 3rd Annual Kellyoke Night @ The Gaslight

2007-10-28T20:42:00.000-04:00

Here's the details...

The Mississippi Project's 3rd Annual
KELLY-OKE
Kelly’s KARAOKE NIGHT at the Gaslight

Date: Thursday, November 1st
Time: 8pm ‘til...
Cost: FREE -- No Cover!

Where: The Gaslight Bar in Sunnyside (43-17 Queens Blvd)

Directions: Take the #7 train to 40th St–Lowery. The Gaslight is just near the north-side subway entrance on Queens Blvd.)

Join us on Karaoke Night, buy a raffle ticket, and help support the 2007-2008 delegation as we work to promote justice in the Mississippi Delta this winter!

Raffle tickets are $1 each (or 6 for $5)

See you there!

ACLU of Mississippi is logged on!

2007-10-25T19:10:00.000-04:00

ACLU of Mississippi's teen outreach has a new ally on MySpace!
Click here for more info: Miss. EC Education

Louisiana's Incarceration Rate "Highest in the World"

2007-10-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

"...Louisiana has the fourth-highest rate of DNA exonerations in the country, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to freeing the wrongfully convicted.

Emily Maw, director of the New Orleans Innocence Project, said this is largely due to the state having the highest incarceration rate in the world as well as a broken indigent defense system.

The unwillingness of prosecutors to reconsider convictions despite mountains of contrary evidence is also a leading factor, she said.

Despite a confession from the guilty party, witnesses who backed Jackson’s claim that he was in Mississippi at the time of the crime, handwriting and medical experts who testified to his innocence, it wasn’t until the introduction of DNA evidence in 2005 that the courts and the Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick relented."

New Orleans CityBusiness, June 11, 2007

Full article: http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=19291

Gulf Coast Update (May '07)

2007-10-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

Although New Orleans received far more media attention after Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi—by many measures the most impoverished state in the US—received the brunt of the storm damage. In the three hardest hit coastal counties, 64,000 homes were destroyed, and more than 70,000 received damage. Many of the poorest residents still have received no federal assistance, and tens of thousands remain spread across the U.S.

For those who have not returned to their homes, reports Monique Harden of the Gulf Coast organization Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, “displaced residents are subjected to a complex and historic interplay of race, class, and the lack of access to housing, healthcare, education, and economic opportunities.” In Gulf Coast cities, immigrants and other people of color have been for the most part left out of reconstruction funding, and for communities most affected by the storm, rebuilding seems to not be on the government agenda. Schools, health care, and criminal justice systems are in crisis.

“We had our ‘Ninth Ward’ in East Biloxi,” Jaribu Hill, executive director of the Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights explains, referring to the poor, mostly African American and Vietnamese coastal community that was leveled by Katrina. “The government has been slow to clean up, slow to provide resources, slow to respond. Even now, people have yet to receive aid. Not only is there widespread poverty, there is widespread displacement.”

ColorLines Magazine, May/June 2007

Full article: http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=208

Support Justice in the Delta! How to Donate to the Mississippi Project

2007-10-17T17:08:00.001-04:00

Tax-deductible donations are made easy by clicking here. You will be asked to enter your personal information. After you click "continue" you will see a drop down field marked "Designation." Please choose Mississippi Project from this list. Your donations are greatly appreciated and absolutely essential to our work in the delta.

Sixteen years ago, the Mississippi Project was founded by CUNY Law students who traveled to Mississippi to investigate the suspicious hangings of more than 50 African American men in a local jail. One of the project founders and CUNY Law alumna Jaribu Hill ’95 established the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights. Ms. Hill today represents workers who face exploitative working conditions and continues to this day as director of the Workers’ Center to host and mentor young law students as they pursue legal work to fight injustices.

Carrying on the spirit and mission of the Project, CUNY Law students spend their winter break working in partnership with the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, the ACLU of Mississippi, and the Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), located in Greenville, MS, Jackson, MS, and New Orleans, LA respectively. The Project not only gives law students an opportunity to gain experience, but also provides legally underserved populations in these communities with greater opportunities to access much-needed legal assistance.

Additionally, checks can be payable to: “CUNY Law Foundation” and include “Re: Mississippi Project” in the memo portion of your check. Checks should be mailed to:

Attn: Ms. Barbara Kopp
CUNY School of Law
Development Office, Room 200
65-21 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11367

Thank you for supporting the ongoing work of the Mississippi Project!