This has absolutely nothing to do with public defense or politics, but the Boston Globe has a fascinating story about a glimpse into a Massachusetts Netflix warehouse. Apparently the employees have to sign confidentiality contracts stating they will not even reveal its location. And they actually do notice when people write little comments on the envelopes. It’s a very interesting read. And I do admit that I heart the Netflix.
I like to pretend that I am computer-savvy, but I am not. And I am having some problems with WordPress (like downloading a newer version and losing my incoming links section). I tried their documentation and support forums, but they are on a level that is too advanced for me. Can anyone help? I feel like these are things that I should be able figure out, but I can’t. And I’m frustrated.
If you can help, email me at misstyrios@misstyrios.com. I will buy you ice cream. Somehow.
I realize that the answer of “even the guilty ones deserve the best legal representation” does not always go over very well to the inevitable “But how can you DO that for a living? How can you represent those people?” questions. And the “think of it as me keeping the system honest” response sometimes sparks an entirely new discussion about me being anti-cop. So I like to keep a little arsenal of gut-wrenching stories of the innocent persecuted by the system, so I can at least fall back on “you wouldn’t want this to happen, would you?” And I have found another one. I don’t have much time to go into it, but the NYTimes Magazine story about the Norfolk Four speaks for itself.
The Worcester County House of Correction in Massachusetts is facing a crisis - it is designed to hold 822 inmates, but the current population is more than 1500, “who are packed two to a single cell, and in the infirmary and the gymnasium.” One of those inmates, with the help of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the jail because of the overcrowding. And US District Court Judge Rya Zobel issued a decree that no more than 1251 individuals be held there at any time. The sheriff sued to vacate the decree, but lost. Then he tried to get more money from the state to expand the jail, but didn’t. So now (in what honestly seems like a move to spark community outcry), he has announced that he will release two inmates for every one that comes in, and will place a number of pre-trial individuals on GPS monitoring systems in lieu of holding them.
“The purpose of the consent decree is to address overcrowding at the Worcester County House of Correction, which is beyond critical,” said Peter J. Costanza, a staff lawyer for the prisoners’ rights group who has worked on the consent decree with the sheriff’s chief legal adviser, Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey R. Turco. “It’s going to be several years before they can get more space at Worcester. In the meantime, something has to be done.”
The district attorney said he is deeply concerned about the release of pretrial detainees and the “one-in, two-out” provision, though he sees no problem in off-loading inmates to other county jails.
Obviously, I am all for letting people out of jail, particularly because there are so damn many of them that are held for ridiculous reasons (like a 19-year-old held for 30 days on a charge of driving after a suspended license - which carries a max 10 days - because he couldn’t post $250 bail). And I am theoretically against the “build more jails” line of thought because it is generally espoused as part of the “lock ‘em all up” cry. But even with a cap of 1251, that’s 400+ above the jail’s capacity. So if building an expansion means that anyone held there would be able to sleep a little better, I am in favor of that too.
I think there just needs to be a fundamental re-evaluation that includes the sheriff, the inmates, and the judges who are setting bail and deciding sentences. It needs to go beyond the DA issuing the trite required press statement and the public just hearing “criminals on the streets!”
I have a significant commute to and from work. Without traffic, it is about an hour drive in each direction (I know, I am dealing with my own guilt over my carbon emissions rate). I often say that I do not mind the actual time in the car, as it gives me time to drink my Dunkin Donuts coffee, listen to the radio, and get my thoughts together. More specifically, though, I love the significant amount of time I get to listen to NPR. Seriously. I am ridiculously well-informed because of my commute. And today was a particularly fantastic NPR day, as On Point spent one hour talking about the American prison system and the next hour talking about Elvis Presley. If you read this blog, you know I am semi-obsessed with prison issues. And if you know me at all, you know that I am fully obsessed with Elvis Presley.
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I fully intended to provide a long discussion about the show’s contents. But I got derailed stressing out about moving and a potential trial on Monday. Dammit.
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I feel like a failure of a blogger lately.
Seriously. I am on the front page of the damn news again, picture and all. And I do not like it. At all. I’m not being facetious. Quote my argument if you want, but stop taking my picture.
In better news, I argued a motion to suppress today and kicked some serious prosecutor/state trooper ass. I won’t have a decision for a few weeks (we have two weeks to file memos of law), but I feel really good. I not only think the law really is on my side, but I knew it so well and I argued it so well and I just feel good about it. And I did it immediately after a not guilty verdict had come in on my co-worker’s first jury trial.
So I showed up to court yesterday with an agenda of nothing more than working out pleas for two clients. But as soon as I walked into the courtroom, the clerk called me over and asked me to do the arraignment for a young man who had just been arrested in a fairly high-profile crime last week. So I spoke to him, knowing nothing more about the case than I had heard on the news. And when I went back to the courtroom, there were suddenly photographers and a damn news camera ready to film the arraignment. When I woke up to go to work, being on television was not on my list of things to do. But there I was, working with the pathetically minimal information on the criminal complaint that led to the arrest and fighting for this kid I had just met 10 minutes earlier. The feeling was sort of like being on trial last week - I completely forgot about anyone else in the room and just…fought. And I lost, of course. But now my grandparents have seen me on the news and my picture is on the front page of a local TV station’s website and I am quoted on the front page of a couple of newspapers. It’s an odd feeling.
