2pThe Daily Tar HeelTuesday, January 21, 1992
Law students crack
By Winifred Sease
Staff Writer
' The first time Rachel Graham went
to the N.C. Correctional Institution for
Women in Raleigh, she noticed its
campuslike atmosphere.
. "There were all these people milling
around, listening to music and smok
ing," she said.
But after return visits, she noticed
some differences.
She noticed everyone had on a green,
blue or brown shirt. There, color sym
bolized reality. Inmates with green shirts
had been convicted of misdemeanors,
blue shirts signified felonies and women
wearing brown shirts have yet to be
processed.
"At first I thought that this can't be
that bad, but the more that I have thought
about it, I know they (mill around) be
cause they can't do anything else. It has
to be very frustrating," said Graham,
co-director of Women Prisoners Rights
Project.
It was a similar realization of this
frustration that prompted Lucy Inman
to found what would eventually be called
the Women Prisoners Rights Project
a project in which law students visit
women prisoners to inform them of
their rights, especially in the areas of
civil and domestic law.
Inman stumbled upon this as a volun
teer at the women's correctional center
while doing an independent study with
Daniel Pollitt, Kenan professor in the
School of Law.
Years before Inman founded the
WPRP, Pollitt acknowledged the need
for all prisoners to have some way of
receiving and gathering information.
','When we started, prisoners had no
Other recourse," he said.
This is the reason that IS years ago,
Pollitt and some law students started
offering their services to prisoners who
could get no one else to listen.
' The group he formed is called the
Jrisoners Rights Project and functions
ifferently than the Women Prisoners
Rights Project. The PRP deals exclu
sively with male inmates and commu
nicates with the inmates through writ
ten correspondence, while WPRP visits
the women inmates in the prison and
hen researches inmates' problems.
' Ann Hester, a volunteer for PRP,
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said because funds were limited, pris
oners did not have access to a law li
brary to research their rights. The pris
oners can write letters to the PRP on
issues they are concerned with, such as
adequate medical care, and a law stu
dent will research and write back, tell
ing the inmate what the law is.
The project receives about 10 letters
each week and is now back-logged,
because the letters did not stop coming
over the holidays.
Hester said, "You can't give every
one your full attention. It is depressing.
There is a lack of resources and we are
completely swamped all the time. And
as long as they continue to warehouse
prisoners, it won't get any better."
Pollitt said a state-funded organiza
tion. Prisoners Legal Services, was es
tablished two years ago, to match li
censed attorneys with prisoners' legal
problems, but because of high demand
and limited manpower, Prisoners Legal
Services cannot reply to all requests.
Prisoners Legal Services employs
only 10 attorneys handle complaints of
prison conditions, medical care, inad
equate representation and parole status.
The attorneys, unlike the law student
volunteers, can file suit, advise and rep
resent inmates. But because the stu
dents are not licensed to practice law,
they are limited in the assistance they
can provide.
To make sure there are no misunder
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standings about what the students can
tell the prisoners, four office staff mem
bers read all letters sent back to the
prisoners to make sure no one gives
advice, Hester said.
"If it looks like a legitimate com
plaint, we send it to Prisoners Legal
Services. . . . We can't give them advice,
we just tell them what the law says,"
Hester said.
There are many letters for which
Prisoners Legal Services probably
would not have time, such as the letter
Pollitt said PRP received from an in
mate who wanted to know the penalty
for second-time escape. A PRP volun
teer replied, only for the letter to be
returned marked "Addressee Un
known." "Obviously, he didn't wait for
the answer," Pollitt said.
Unlike PRP, the WPRP meets the
inmates face-to-face by appointment.
Correctional officer Brenda Ewell acts
as a liaison between the project and the
inmates. Volunteers go to the prison
two days a week, meeting about 14
inmates a week to tell them about the
laws that will help them, Ewell said.
After meeting an inmate, volunteers try
to get back in touch within two weeks.
One way the WPRP has helped the
inmates is through the development of a
divorce packet. It contains instructions
on how to file for divorce and the papers
that have to be filled out. "It makes it
easier on the prisoner," said Constance
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prisoners
Apostolou, director of the WPRP.
Because a high percentage of the
female inmates are the primary caretak
ers of their children, many have to deal
with the custody of their children while
they are in prison. "Prisoners Legal
Services focuses on prison environment
and validity of the inmate's case, not
family and domestic law. Women have
to have their own funds (to get legal aid)
or they get caught between the cracks,"
Apostolou said.
Inman said, "In 1990, 86 percent of
the women were mothers, and two-thirds
of them were the primary caretakers of
their children."
"The prison administrators and in
mates expressed the need for assistance
in domestic law," she said. "This is a
need the government has not been able
to address. I would love to see a network
of practicing attorneys working on this
issue."
Apostolou explained by telling a story
about a woman inmate who has an eighteen-month
old baby. She gave custody
to her mother, but the court gave cus
tody to the father, who has been in
trouble for alcohol dependency and ch ild
abuse. The WPRP makes it possible for
the inmate to gather information about
her child and learn her rights.
"The law students are very much
needed and very much in demand,"
Ewell said. "We are booked up for a
month and a half."
The female prisoners, like the male
prisoners, mostly hear about the help
available to them from the law students
by word-of-mouth. "Once you tell one
inmate, everyone knows," Ewell said.
"The inmates are always disappointed
during Spring Break and the Christmas
holidays. They want to know where the
students are and when they are coming
back," Ewell said.
But it is not only the inmates that
profit from the project.
. Pollitt said: "Most law students are
comfortable middleclass. This is a first
time exposure. They can gain an aware
ness and sensitivity to certain prob
lems." "You can't help but feel different
when you learn how intelligent some
(inmates) are it breaks the stereo
types," Apostolou said. "I don't ever
give up on the idea that if you give them
a break they will change. They are just
people. You can talk legal mumbo
jumbo all you want, but people still end
up in prison."
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MLK WEEK KEYNOTE:
William H. Gray III
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Former US Congressman
"Historically Black Colleges and Universities:
How They Fulfill the King Dream of Equality."
Thursday, January 23, 1992
8 pm
Memorial Hall
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Campus Calendar
TUESDAY ...
1 1 a-m. UNC HIIW will be in die Pit until 2 pjn. ,
today and Wednesday to sell trees to be planted in the -Martin
Luther King Forest in Israel.
AIESEC will have Fun Day in the Pit until I pjn.
with free pizza in a pizza-eating contest.
3:30 p.m. Association of Business Students will
hold the 1992 Internship Forum in 002 Carroll. ' '
5 p.m. The Juggling Club will meet in Carmichael
Ballroom.
Ridgefleld Action Project, will meet at the Y.
6:30 p.m. UNC Hillel will have a free spaghetti -dinner
and discussion on "Freud. Moses and Mom"
led by Dr. Irv Alexander of the Duke University -
Psychology Department
7 p.m. TAr Heel Recycling Project will meet in
206 Union.
Great Decisions Lecture: Michael Vlahos from'
the U.S. Center for Naval Analysis will speak on
"U.S. Agenda for the 1990s" in 100 Hamilton.
University Career Planning and Placement Ser-'
vices will hold a presentation by Wachovia at the
Carolina Inn, Section C.
Carolina Martial Arts Club willhold an informa
tional meeting in the Frank Porter Graham Lounge in
the Student Union.
7:30 p.m. UNC Young Republicans will hear
Trip Sizemore, Republican candidate for lieutenant
governor, in 106 Fetzer.
Carolina Fever will meet in 1 1 1 Murphey.
AED pre-medical fraternity will meet in 224
Union.
8 p.m. Come meet members of Delia Sigma Pi, a
professional fraternity for business majors, in T-7
New Carroll.
UNC Young Democrats welcome Rep. Dennis
Wicker, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant gover
nor, in 101 Greenlaw.
11 p.m. WXYC 89 J FM will play the latest CD
from Rickie Lee Jones, "Pop! Pop!" in its entirety.
Correction
In the Jan. 13 article, "Front-runners
emerge in govemor'srace," John
Humphrey was quoted incorrectly.
The quote should have read, "Gover
nor Hunt believes polluters, not tax
payers, should pay to clean the envi
ronment. "The DTH regrets the error.
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