Charlotte Ray was the first African American woman to become a licensed lawyer in the United States, passing the bar in 1872. During her career, cut short by discrimination, she accomplished the seemingly impossible task of securing a divorce for Martha Gadley, a poor black woman, by vividly chronicling the abuse Ms. Gadley suffered.
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women carries on Charlotte Ray’s legacy by seeking compassionate release for women incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons. To beat the odds as Ms. Ray did, the project matches incarcerated clients with a team of law students, a formerly incarcerated mentor, and a lawyer to petition the courts for freedom.
Project teams work under the principles of movement lawyering, which centers the story of the client and speaks truth to power. Compassionate Release motions strive to explain why a woman landed on a prison bunk and then offer a compelling legal argument to allow the judge to grant her freedom. The motions also educate judges about the dismal conditions in US prisons, including the prevalence of sexual assault and lack of medical care.
The CRFP benefits its participants as well as its clients. It provides law students with an opportunity to work with an incarcerated client and to help develop a new area of the law: the current compassionate release guidelines went into effect in November 2023. Students also benefit from the expertise of their formerly incarcerated mentors as well as direct supervision from an attorney.
The project matches incarcerated clients with a team of law students, a formerly incarcerated mentor, and a lawyer to petition the courts for freedom. This is a remote opportunity, there will be a weekly check-in with the attorney and/or the mentor. A few students are assigned to the same case, and they can organize among themselves how they plan to structure the work in order to meet their other obligations.
Interested students can contact Sharon White, Prison Liaison, at swhite@thecouncil.us with a copy to Lee Mestre in OCP at lmestre@law.harvard.edu.