Help Replenish OPD's Client Welfare Fund!

When clients of the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) office are taken to the Orleans Justice Center (OJC), the jail provides them with only a jumpsuit, a bedsheet, a toothbrush, and one tube of toothpaste. OPD 2024 summer interns and law clerks are raising money to replenish OPD’s Client Welfare Fund , which can provide clients with the funds to purchase additional necessary items from the jail’s commissary as well as to support clients getting back on their feet after being released. Due to the significant need for support, the Client Welfare Fund is currently depleted.

OPD represents close to 20,000 people each year, comprising nearly 90% of all those who face criminal charges in New Orleans. The criminal legal system is punitive, harmful, and disruptive to all whose reach it touches, and in New Orleans, it touches far too many. Louisiana is sometimes referred to as the incarceration capital of the world because its incarceration rate exceeds that of most democratic countries on earth . 1 in 100 Louisianans are in prison or jail.

This year has brought a series of punitive changes to Louisiana’s criminal legal system that will likely further increase the number of people incarcerated in Louisiana. Changes that permit the state to charge 17-year-olds as adults and house them in adult jail are already in effect. Laws effective August 1st will lengthen sentences by reducing the amount of “good time credit” individuals can accumulate while incarcerated and eliminating the possibility of parole for many people.

OPD exclusively represents clients who lack the financial resources to hire a private attorney. That lack of financial resources means OPD’s clients are more likely than others charged with crimes to remain incarcerated for the duration of their case and less likely to be able to purchase basic necessities while they are incarcerated. Clients who can’t afford to bond out remain in jail for two months to two years prior to their case’s resolution or sentencing. During that time, OPD’s clients need to buy items like shampoo, underwear, and menstrual products from the jail’s commissary. Further, incarcerated clients who are released remain fettered by various expenses, even if they were never convicted of a single crime. Oftentimes, people who have been incarcerated lose their jobs, housing, and transportation as a result of their detention. Items that many non-incarcerated individuals purchase without any afterthought, from diapers to work uniforms to bus passes, may be completely unaffordable to our clients.

OPD’s Client Welfare Fund can provide the funds to purchase those and other items, but it needs replenishing. OPD remains committed to fighting for the health, well-being, safety, and success of our clients, their families, and all New Orleanians, but we cannot provide the support they need alone. Join the fight by making a donation to the Client Welfare Fund.

Thank you for your consideration and generosity.

In love and solidarity,

OPD Summer 2024 Interns

When the fundraiser closes, OPD's Deputy CAO & Communications Director Lindsey Hortenstine will directly withdraw the funds to OPD's operating bank account and manage disbursement and requests with OPD's attorneys, investigators, client advocates, and social workers.