His face is framed by an 8-by-4 inch window that separates the inmates at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison from their visitors.
Carter’s story is all too familiar in Louisiana, where 85 percent of people accused of a crime are poor.
Louisiana is the only state that funds its public defenders this way, and with 250,000 annual cases, the system has collapsed.
The crunch is so severe that three-quarters of public defender districts quit accepting certain new clients last year.
The plaintiffs are requesting the creation of a court-appointed monitor to oversee statewide public defense until reforms are enacted to fix it.
That’s why the defendants include the governor, current members of the Louisiana Public Defender Board, and State Public Defender Jay Dixon.
As the public defender leaned next to Carter to privately explain what the district attorney is offering, Carter just shook his head. »
