New Orleans – The Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) announced the implementation of anticipated furloughs due to a projected $800,000 revenue 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. On Monday, April 20, COVID-19 has exacerbated that broken and inequitable funding structure built on the backs of poor people.

“This could not happen at a worse time,” said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton, “With COVID-19 spreading throughout the jail, OPD’s advocacy is more important than ever to move our clients and keep the jail as small as possible. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 US ___ (2020) handed down will soon require retrials for dozens of Louisianans convicted by split jury verdicts.  However, we simply don’t have enough money to operate at full capacity. 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. 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 our clients in jail 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, could trigger a 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 began 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 clients, staff and our broader community. Additionally, called on NOPD to cease certain arrests that unnecessarily increase police and community exposure to the coronavirus during arrest.

On April 20, the jail population is at its lowest in decades even as the number of staff and inmates who test positive for coronavirus increase.

OPD continues to call upon criminal legal system stakeholders, at the local and state level, 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 many times over, when compared to other entities in the criminal legal system.

Despite representing more than 85% of all people in Orleans Parish Criminal Court, OPD receives less than one-third the funding of the District Attorney’s Office.

In spite of OPD’s criticism – and the criticism of every expert who has cared to look – inequities remain.

OPD has been locked in a cycle of service restrictions and cuts since 2012. In 2012, OPD was forced to cut $1 million and a third of its staff. In 2015 and 2016, we refused more than 1000 cases.

Inadequate, inequitable and unreliable resources continue to compromise OPD’s ability to provide mandated legal services, brings higher costs in our criminal legal 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.