Prison overcrowding has come to the fore recently as economically stressed state governments wonder if reducing incarcerated populations, particularly by releasing non-violent and low-risk offenders, may be a way to save money.  Well, in California there’s another reason to thin out the prison roles.  From the Washington Post‘s Robert Barnes:

A bitterly divided Supreme Court on Monday upheld a judicial order that could result in the release of nearly 40,000 prisoners from a California penal system so overcrowded that its conditions are, the court wrote, “incompatible with the concept of human dignity.”

…

The number of prisoners in California continues to fluctuate, but at one time the prison system there held nearly twice as many inmates as the 80,000 it was meant to hold. When a special three-judge panel first ordered the release, it said that about 46,000 inmates would need to be freed in order to reduce the prison population to a manageable 110,000.

Since then, Kennedy said, 9,000 inmates have been released. An attorney for the inmates said after the ruling that 32,000 inmates should be released.

…

“As many as 200 prisoners may live in a gymnasium, monitored by as few as two or three correctional officers,” [Kennedy] wrote. “As many as 54 prisoners may share a single toilet.” Suicides averaged one a week, he said; a report that found one inmate died about every week from ailments that could have been prevented.

Kennedy said the conditions are not safe for the prisoners or correctional officers, and he even included photos of the overcrowding as part of his opinion.

Kennedy said reducing the prison population could be accomplished in a number of ways besides simply releasing inmates. Some could be transferred to local jails or to prisons outside the state, something California already is doing. Expanding the use of “good-time” credits would allow the release of those least likely to reoffend; so would excusing prisoners now incarcerated for technical violations of parole.

Human Rights Watch’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (“LGBT”) Rights program is seeking a Researcher. The Researcher will focus on human rights abuses related to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in sub-Saharan Africa under the supervision of the Director of the LGBT Rights program, who will provide guidance on the choice of research and advocacy projects. The Researcher will be responsible for ongoing research and advocacy efforts, play an important role in developing strategies for dealing with human rights issues related to sexuality and sexual rights, and contribute to policy development in this area. The Researcher will carry out factfinding missions to target countries; write and publicize reports on findings; develop advocacy strategies; present human rights concerns to governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the media; and write press releases, articles, op-eds, and position papers. The Researcher will coordinate research and advocacy plans with HRW’s thematic and regional divisions, help create and maintain partnerships with NGOs working on LGBT and sexual rights, and follow media and other reports on human rights abuses based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree in law, public health, international relations, gender studies, or a related field, and three-to-six years of experience in human rights, with a preferred emphasis in LGBT rights, gender, sexual rights, or a closely related area. Candidates must have research experience and advocacy skills and should have good interviewing skills; field experience in public health or human rights is strongly desirable, as is demonstrated experience working with LGBT communities. Experience working with issues of gender identity and expression is highly desirable. Excellent oral and written communications skills in English are required, and writing and speaking proficiency in another language is advantageous. Candidates should be highly motivated and well-organized; able to work quickly and well under pressure, both independently and as a member of a team; juggle multiple tasks and meet tight deadlines; and demonstrate a commitment to international human rights.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Greetings, dear reader. There’s lots to share this week including:  federal hiring reform stats; ACLU criticizing Michigan’s public defender system; the federal hiring freeze and its effect on DOJ hiring;  legal services funding woes; Connecticut Bar Foundation Distinguished Service Awards; an update on the success of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Program; how budget cuts are impacting foreclosure assistance groups in New York City;  Charleston School of Law’s student pro bono requirements; a unique partnership between the Texas Tech School of Law and the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense to improve legal representation for low-income populations; good news about Chicago Bar Foundation’s fundraising efforts;   Maine resident Cushman Anthony honored for his life’s work;  and breath testers in doubt in Vermont, affecting dozens of DUI cases.

This week:

• 5.18.11 – Government Executive’s FedBlog reports on federal hiring reform stats provided by the Office of Personnel Management this week.  Uncle Sam’s been making progress!  OPM reported that “91 percent of federal jobs are now filled based on resumes and cover letters (without a requirement for lengthy essays), up from 39 percent in 2009 … 96  percent of announcements no longer include a requirement to fill out knowledge, skills and abilities statements, [and] the governmentwide average time it takes to fill a position is now 105 days.”

• 5.18.11 – An article in Michigan Live reports that the ACLU is blasting Michigan’s public defender system, citing a 2002-03 Muskegon County armed robbery case as a prime example of the failure of Michigan’s system of court-appointed lawyers for criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire their own.  The ACLU claims that “evidence points to (the) innocence” of Alphonso Sones Sr., who is currently serving two multi-decade terms.  The ACLU recently released a report calling Michigan’s public defender system one of the worst in the nation, criticizing the state for leaving funding and oversight of criminal defense of the indigent to the 83 counties, many of whom leave their systems underfunded and badly run.  Sones’ attempts to overturn his conviction on the grounds did not represent him effectively have failed, but the ACLU seems unlikely to let Michigan public defenders off the hook any time soon.

• 5.16.11 – On Monday, the PSLawNet Blog featured a piece about the federal hiring freeze.  As the Federal Times reported, the Department of Justice is no exception.  The Justice Department’s hiring freeze — which was imposed earlier this year and even prevents the department from hiring to replace most attrition — remains in effect, and spokeswoman Jessica Smith said Justice isn’t sure when it will be lifted. Justice earlier this year said the freeze was necessary to avoid a sudden, dire budget crunch that would force employee furloughs. Smith said those concerns remain.

• 5.16.11 – Legal needs for the low-income are growing, but funding is shrinking for legal services.  The ProPublica Blog featured a piece on providers of civil legal services to the low income having to furlough their staff, triage their clients, and turn away more people in need as a result of the congressional budget compromise reached last month. The umbrella nonprofit group Legal Services Corporation had its funding cut by $15.8 million—about 4 percent of its most recent budget—as a result of last month’s budget compromise. You do reach a point where you can no longer absorb” the cuts, Edwina Frances Martin, said a spokeswoman for Legal Services NYC.  Martin said her organization gets about 14 percent of its budget from Legal Services Corporation and lost about $720,000 in the final federal budget. It’s planning cutbacks large and small—cutting the budget for food at trainings, leaving some empty positions unfilled and implementing furloughs in some field offices.  ProPublica goes on to discuss how Idaho, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maine are facing similar circumstances.

• 5.16.11 –  Featured in the Connecticut Law Tribune,  James Bowers,  Kate Stith and Hugh C. Macgill received Distinguished Service Awards from the Connecticut Bar Foundation last week.  While Bowers, Macgill and Stith have all followed different career courses as practitioners and professors of the law, their journeys began with the realization that justice is not free and access to it is not equal.  “For Bowers, a partner at Day Pitney who has defended high-powered people accused of white-collar crimes, that awareness began when he grew up in the South as a black man in a system built for white people.  For Stith, a Yale University professor and former assistant U.S. attorney in New York, it began with a research paper she wrote as a student at Dartmouth College on the first legal aid program in New Hampshire.  For Macgill, a professor and past dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law, it began early in his career and continues today.” The event also featured an impassioned speech about the need to fund legal services for the poor by New York Judge Jonathan Lippman, chief judge of that state’s highest court, who said, “No issue is more basic to our constitutional reason for being than providing equal justice for all.”

• 5.15.11 – Last month, the PSLawNet Blog highlighted the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Program, an effort by law students to help Iraqis seek refugee status.   This week, The Associated Press also featured the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), highlighting  law students who are helping to resettle Iraqi refugees refugees.  “I think it’s an excellent initiative,” said Larry Yungk, senior resettlement officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington.  Yungk also praised IRAP’s success.  “They’ve been effective. Certainly refugees are here in the United States because of work they did.”  IRAP has been especially effective in handling appeals of cases involving refugees rejected for resettlement in the U.S., having won 90 percent of them.  IRAP’s founder, Becca Heller, is especially proud of the case of a family resettled last fall in New Haven. The family’s application was originally rejected for failure to prove persecution, but IRAP appealed. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security overturned the decision based partially on a medical emergency involving a girl in the family suffering severe seizures, Heller said.  Since then, IRAP arranged for the girl to receive free medical treatment from a specialist and provided car pools to get the family to doctor’s appointments.

• 5.14.11 – The New York Times featured a piece about how budget cuts threaten foreclosure assistance–a dismal outlook.  In New York City, foreclosure-prevention programs have helped more than 3,000 homeowners facing foreclosure over the past three years.  The programs have been financed since 2009 by federal stimulus spending, but that money will run out by the end of this year. That has left lawmakers scrambling to try to find new state financing, while the small army of pro bono lawyers fighting foreclosures waits and worries.  “We are hardly at the end of the foreclosure tsunami,” said Vicki Been, co-director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at the New York University School of Law.  “There continue to be a lot of people losing their homes. The numbers have softened, but the crisis is not over.”

• 5.14.11 – a short piece the Post & Courier catches us up with the progress of the provisionally accredited Charleston School of Law, which has placed public service at the core of its mission.  The school, which opened in 2004 and is on the cusp of full accreditation by the ABA, requires students to perform 30 hours of public service before graduating.   Some students well exceed that mark.  Graduating student Allison Roberts performed 100 hours of pro bono work during here law school career, including a stint gathering facts about Khmer Rouge crimes in Cambodia.

• 5.13.11 – a unique partnership between the Texas Tech School of Law and the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense to improve legal representation for low income populations in the state’s far flung, sparsely populated counties.  The Dallas Morning News blog reports that the Caprock Public Defender Office is the first of its kind in Texas, said Bryan Wilson, grants administrator for the Task Force. The project pairs a law school professor and students in a law school clinic with counties that have few if any attorneys available for court appointments.  “About a dozen counties in the Lubbock area covering a 40,000 square mile area, have signed up for the office to provide representation for misdemeanor and juvenile defendants.”  In Texas, like so many other states, the need is great.  PSLawNet Blog applauds partnerships like this one!

• 5.13.11 – In the Windy City, a piece in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin discusses Chicago Bar Foundation’s fundraising efforts. The efforts have yielded positive results.  “Organizers of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Investing in Justice Campaign said they are seeing ‘record-breaking success’ in this year’s effort to increase financial support for area providers of legal services to the poor.  During the fundraising campaign, which marked its fifth year with a kickoff in early March, more than 3,300 individual attorneys and legal professionals from 110 participating law firms, corporate legal departments and other law-related organizations contributed more than $1.3 million toward the effort, organizers said.”

• 5.13.11 – Last week, Cushman Anthony, who helped found Michigan Law School’s legal aid clinic, was honored for his life’s work.  Maine’s  Portland Press Herald described his 40-year career that focused on ensuring the rights of people who might not have the resources to hire their own attorneys or take on established power structures. “I went into law because I viewed that as a way to make the world a better place,” Anthony said recently. “I knew I was going to be trying to improve the world.”  Anthony succeeded, according to the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation, which on Thursday night presented him the 2011 Justice Louis Scolnik Award at a ceremony at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport.  In his varied and accomplished career, Anthony was not only a clinician, he was a family law practitioner, a  state representative, and a lobbyist for Native American affairs.  Anthony  sums best sums up his life’s work in his own words: “I’ve always identified with the little guy.”

• 5.13.11 – The Vermont Digger reports that with breath testers in doubt, Vermont prosecutors are set to toss dozens of DUI cases after an investigation found a long list of alleged problems with breath testers. David Sleigh, a criminal defense attorney based in St. Johnsbury is partnering with Burlington lawyer Frank Twarog to use a client’s case and those of two other DUI clients to attack the credibility of DataMaster breath testers. The DataMaster breath testers are used by police and the state health lab that certifies and maintains them. Sleigh has witnesses prepared to testify that the health department used unorthodox methods to repair damaged DataMasters and to get them to “pass” routine performance checks over a period of years. The compromised testers raise legitimate questions about whether innocent drivers have been convicted ed of DUIs based on faulty evidence. Equally troubling, though, is the prospect of dangerous drunk drivers getting off the hook and back behind the wheel.

The Pacific Northwest is calling! The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) seeks a Directing Attorney for its Granger Office. NWIRP promotes justice for low-income immigrants by pursuing and defending their legal status. We focus on providing direct legal services, supported by our education and public policy work.

NWIRP is an exciting and dynamic nonprofit immigrant rights organization that has been in operation for more than 27 years. NWIRP provides services at four sites in Washington State: Seattle, Granger, Moses Lake and Tacoma (serving the Northwest Detention Center).  NWIRP’s Granger Office is located in Granger, WA, a city of more than 3,000 people located in a rural area 25 miles southeast of Yakima.  From this location, the office serves clients from across Central and Eastern Washington.  The office currently has a staff of eight and serves a client base consisting largely of farmworkers and their families.

Basic responsibilities: Oversee and supervise operations of NWIRP’s Granger office. Provide mentoring, support and supervision to attorneys, accredited representatives and legal advocates in the office.  Maintain own caseload of immigration matters.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeks an Attorney Advisor to perform attorney services for the various realty functions and activities of the district such as real property condemnation matters in Fort Worth, Texas.  If determined condemnation is necessary for title defects, the staff attorney will prepare the attorney’s opinion and the required pleadings, witnesses and court exhibits; attend pre-trial hearings and trials; participate in negotiations for settlement and recommend settlements. He or she will be responsible for preparing complex deeds of conveyance and donation involving large sums of money and affecting large segments of public and private interests.

The attorney will be designated closing attorney and make payments for land or interest therein. He or she will examine title certificates for compliance with contract terms. Uses judgment to determine what documents are necessary to cure outstanding title defects which requires extensive research and analysis of complex factual and legal issues. The attorney advisor will prepare and present orally and in writing, legal opinions, advice and guidance to District contracting officers and their representatives in regard to matters of procurement law in connection with construction supply, services and architect-engineer contracts.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The El Paso Times reports that El Paso Lawyers for Patriots will host a conference May 20-21 to educate local attorneys and legal professionals to help them better serve active-duty military and veterans.

The conference will take place at the Centennial Banquet and Conference Center on East Fort Bliss. It will cover topics including how best to provide services to veterans and service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, how to assist pro bono programs that provide free legal services, and how to provide bankruptcy and consumer affairs help.

“Legal issues are one of the top stressors for our service members and soldiers,” said Erica Manning, program integration manager for Army OneSource. “It needs to be addressed, and I think this seminar is doing that by bringing these professionals in to educate them on the needs of our service members and military families.”

By far, the vast majority of legal services that service members and veterans need fall into the realm of family law, which includes divorces and custody and support of children.

As you know, the PSLawNet Blog is eager to highlight efforts to support veterans and military families. Like student efforts we highlighted in Michigan and New York, Texas’ El Paso Lawyers for Patriots’ conference is highly needed and commendable. Great work!

–Lauren

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking a paid summer intern! The CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency charged with protecting the public against unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with consumer products.

The agency enforces the Consumer Product Safety Act and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, among others. The Office of General Counsel consists of four divisions: Compliance, General Law, Regulatory Affairs, and Enforcement and Information. The Legal Intern would perform work for each of those divisions. Depending on the division, duties include conducting legal research, drafting letters, memoranda, and regulations, and assisting in investigations and case development.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) is seeking applications for a staff attorney in its Environmental Justice Program. NYLPI approaches its work from a community lawyering perspective and the position will include legal, policy, and administrative advocacy, as well as community organizing and coalition-building.

The Environmental Justice Program takes on issues ranging from the overburdening of low-income communities of color with garbage facilities, to the presence of dangerous toxins in public schools, to environmentally just community development. The attorney will take on existing advocacy and have ample opportunity to lead and collaborate upon new campaigns.

NYLPI pioneered the practice of community lawyering in the five boroughs of New York City. With every case and every campaign, we continue to elaborate an approach to working with marginalized communities that is ambitious, participatory, and dynamic. Our work draws on a range of strengths: community trust; proficient organizing; media savvy; effective legislative advocacy; and bold, creative approaches to litigation. The attorney will work both independently and in collaboration with other attorneys, community organizers, and media and lobbying consultants.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

FYI–NYLPI is also hiring staff attorneys for its health justice, disability rights, and education and disability rights programs.  Definitely not to miss!

As we’re now aware, the federal government’s hiring freeze is affecting every agency. The Federal Times reports that the Department of Justice is no exception.  Americans may have a better idea of what a “crucial” employee is as of late, but we’re still scratching our heads, just as nervous as DOJ officials about how this will all shake out…

The Justice Department’s hiring freeze — which was imposed earlier this year and even prevents the department from hiring to replace most attrition — remains in effect, and spokeswoman Jessica Smith said Justice isn’t sure when it will be lifted. Justice earlier this year said the freeze was necessary to avoid a sudden, dire budget crunch that would force employee furloughs. Smith said those concerns remain.

“Given the reductions in the recent FY 2011 full year [continuing resolution], and the funding uncertainty facing us in FY 2012, the Attorney General has directed that the January 21st restraints continue,” Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus said in an April 19 memo to the rest of the department.

Smith said Deputy Attorney General James Cole has made a few exceptions to fill jobs in U.S. Attorneys offices or for crucial law enforcement positions. Much of the department must make do with vacancies when valued employees leave.  Not an enviable position to be in, we admit.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management seeks a Chief Counsel in the fabulous city of Cincinnati.

The incumbent of this position serves as the Chief Counsel for the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). The incumbent is responsible for providing legal services on all matters arising from the activities of the EMCBC and its serviced sites, including procurement law, litigation, environmental law, atomic energy laws, environmental compliance, and closure of government-owned, contractor-operated facilities, employing thousands of contractor employees and having projects/programs valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The incumbent reports to the Director, EMCBC and also reports functionally to the DOE HQ General Counsel.

The incumbent directs, manages, and supervises the work of the staff with full organizational and personnel authorities for assigned programs and provides leadership to approximately 20 professional and administrative employees ranging in grade from GS-7 to GS-15. The incumbent takes appropriate legal action to protect the interests of the Department in litigation and administrative proceedings, supervises the conduct of litigation and oversees lawsuits, represents the DOE and the United States in selected cases in Federal district courts.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).