Shepherd InternshipErin Walters

The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS)

• Mission: The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) provides and promotes quality legal representation to indigent adults and children facing a loss of liberty in the District of Columbia and thereby protects society's interest in the fair administration of justice.

• Community Defender Division (CDD): • Juvenile Services Program (JSP)

• Community Reentry Program (CRP)

• Institutional Services Program (ISP)

Accomplishments of PDS

• Regarded as one of the best public defender offices in the country

• Represents up to 60 percent of individuals determined to be unable to obtain adequate legal representation in DC • Other 40 percent are represented by private

attorneys pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA)

• Consists of seven (7) legal services divisions to represent clients in as complete a way as possible • Trial

• Appeals

• Mental Health

• Special Litigation

• Parole

• Community Defender

• Civil Legal Services

Institutional Services Program (ISP)

• Serves as the PDS liaison to individuals convicted of DC Code offenses and held in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities

• Provides information to assist these individuals and monitor their conditions of incarceration

• Consists of two attorneys, Keisha Robinson and Almo Carter, and shares one investigator—Eddy McDermott—with the rest of CDD

Responsibilities/My Accomplishments Worked primarily under both attorneys in ISP, and with the ISP law

clerk

Answered letters from currently and formerly incarcerated individuals regarding any issues or questions they had about incarceration

Interviewed clients in the Central Detention Facility (DC Jail) in preparation for Disciplinary Hearings within the facility

Interviewed currently and formerly incarcerated men in regard to conditions of confinement

Recreation

Medical Services

Food Services

Physical Abuse

Etc…

Drafted a Report outlining findings re conditions of confinement

When finished, it will be presented to the Warden

A Typical Day in ISP

• 9:30 am Arrive at the office and discuss work to be done for the day

• 10:00 am-1:00 pm Interview individuals at the Jail

• 1:00-2:00 pm Answer letters from clients and organize box of letters to be opened

• 2:00-3:00 pm Watch Jail Calls for a case represented by a lawyer at the main office

• 3:00-4:30 pm Write memos for the clients spoken to that day

• 4:30 pm Send daily report to all in the office and go home

When free, we court watched

Challenges Bureaucracy

Getting information for cases was often difficult

PDS and the “government” (police officers, the DC Jail, and prosecution) have an adversarial relationship

Tense relationship between the DC Jail and my partner and I as a result of our investigation

Progress was slow

Records can take weeks to obtain

Most cases (with the exception of juvenile cases) take months from start to finish

Thrown into the mix feet first

The Criminal Law Internship Program (CLIP) training the other three (3 Shepherd Interns and I completed proved to be largely irrelevant to our work in CDD; the training was specific to the Trial Division

My partner and I were given a lot of freedom and little direction throughout our internship

My SSLP, Summer 2013

The Share Foundation for the Handicapped (Sharing Meadows)

• Rolling Prairie, IN

• Summer Camp for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities/full-time residency for other-abled “villagers” who live in community with “stewards”

SSLP vs. Shepherd Internship

Sharing Meadows

Lived in the camp dorms with my fellow counselors along with the campers during the week

Completed weekly readings and journals, and wrote a paper at the end of the experience

Worked with adults with disabilities (ages 18-78)

Rural setting (Rolling Prairie, IN)

PDS

Lived on Catholic University of America campus with the other 13 Shepherd interns in DC

Lived under a $14 a day budget, which covered food and transportation

Worked with incarcerated individuals (ages 19-60)

Urban setting (Washington, DC)

• Sharing Meadows• Different from most SSLPs, as this was a disability SSLP• Campers and villagers were not necessarily financially poor• I learned a lot about love during my time at Share, so it was

fruitful despite not placing an emphasis on economic poverty

• PDS• All clients of PDS are indigent; however, I spoke with many

non-PDS clients at the DC Jail who may not have been poor• Still, 80-90 percent of those at DC Jail are indigent • Overall, the experience illuminated the connection between

crime and poverty, and the related connection between race and poverty

Understanding Poverty