William O. Douglas

“ The difficulty with an ad hoc program resting on a shifting law school population is that, worthy though it be, it often cannot meet the daily prison demands. [16] In desperation, at least one State has allowed a selected inmate to act as 'jailhouse' counsel for the remaining inmates. [17] The service of legal aid, public defenders, and assigned counsel has been spread too thinly to serve prisons adequately. [18] Some federal courts have begun to provide prisons with standardized habeas corpus forms, in the hope that they can be used by laymen. ”

“ That traditional, closed-shop attitude is utterly out of place in the modern world [1] where claims pile high and much of the work of tracing and pursuing them requires the patience and wisdom of a layman rather than the legal skills of a member of the bar. ”

“ New York law permits senior law students to practice law under certain supervised conditions. Approval must first be granted by the appellate division. A rung or two lower on the legal profession's ladder are laymen legal technicians, comparable to nurses and lab assistants in the medical profession. Large law firms employ them, and there seems to be no reason why they cannot be used in legal services programs to relieve attorneys for more professional tasks.' Samore, Legal Services for the Poor, 32 Albany L.Rev. ”

“ The upheavals occurring in the American social structure are reflected within the prison environment. Prisoners, having real or imagined grievances, cannot demonstrate in protest against them. The right peaceably to assemble is denied to them. The only avenue open to prisoners is taking their case to court. Prison writ-writers would compare themselves to the dissenters outside prison * * *. ”

“ Apart from that, their preparation must never be considered the exclusive prerogative of the lawyer. Laymen-in and out of prison should be allowed to act as 'next friend' to any person in the preparation of any paper or document or claim, so long as he does not hold himself out as practicing law or as being a member of the Bar. ”

“ A person who has a claim assertable in faraway Washington, D.C., is even more helpless, as evidenced by the increasing tendency of constituents to rely on their congressional delegation to identify, press, and process their claims. ”

“ Most legal aid offices, however, have so many pressing obligations f a civil and criminal nature in their own communities and among freemen, as not to be able to provide any satisfactory assistance to prisoners. ”

“ The ones not able to pay this sum must resort to the next best course of action act as their own lawyers. The disadvantages to the prisoner are obvious. A lawyer, after examining the prisoner's transcripts or conducting an independent investigation of the facts, could immediately advise him on a course of action. ”

“ The increasing complexities of our governmental apparatus at both the local and the federal levels have made it difficult for a person to process a claim or even to make a complaint. Social security is a virtual maze ”

“ The same thing is true of OEO-sponsored Neighborhood Legal Services offices, which see their function as providing legal counsel for a particular community, which a member leaves as soon as he is taken to prison. [13] In some cases, state public defenders will represent a man even after he passes beyond prison walls. ”

“ It was expressed by a New York court in denying an application from the Neighborhood Legal Services for permission to offer a broad legal-aid type of service to indigents:
' (I) n any legal assistance corporation, supported by federal antipoverty funds, the executive staff, and those with the responsibility to hire and discharge staff from the very top to the lowest lay echelon must be lawyers.' Matter of Community Action for Legal Services, 26 A.D.2d 354, 360, 274 N.Y.S.2d 779, 787 (1966) . ”

“ The state, by shouldering these indigent prisoners with the responsibility of acting as their own counsel, has dissipated the taxpayers' money in wasted manpower and court costs.' Larsen, A Prisoner Looks at Writ-Writing, 56 Calif.L.Rev. 343, 345-346 (1968) .↑ Note, Legal Services for the Poor, 49 Mass.L.Q. 293 (1964) .↑ Note, Representation of Indigent Criminal Defendants in the Federal District Courts, 76 Harv.L.Rev. 579 (1963) ; Note, Representation of Indigents in California-A Field Study of the Public Defender and Assigned Counsel Systems, 13 Stan.L.Rev. 522 (1961) ”