The Center for Appellate Litigation (“CAL”), a non-profit public defender office handling appeals and other post-conviction matters, is seeking full-time, unpaid interns for our Conditions of Confinement Project for Summer 2021.
As part of our mission to provide holistic support to our clients, our Conditions of Confinement Project helps our clients with a number of issues, including but not limited to advocacy for medical and mental health treatment, and confronting instances of physical and verbal harassment from facility staff and/or fellow incarcerated people. The Conditions Team also regularly intervenes on behalf of our clients to help them navigate institutional barriers pertaining to lost property, missing payments, surcharge deferrals, time credit and computation, and securing law library access. We also seek transfers between facilities for clients when appropriate.
The internship, slated to begin on June 2, 2021, will primarily involve directly addressing clients’ safety concerns and other problems collateral to their incarceration. The internship will provide exposure to a wide range of issues and extensive hands-on contact with our clients, the justice system, and the carceral state. Day to day responsibilities will include working proactively with Conditions Team members to strategize best responses to our clients’ requests for assistance, corresponding with clients and Department of Corrections entities at both the city and state levels, maintaining active records of such correspondence, and contributing to the Project’s living archive of best practices and resources. Conditions of Confinement Project Interns will report to the Client Support Services Team, which meets on a weekly basis and is eager to assign work that reflects interns’ individual interests and strengths.
An ideal Conditions Project Intern is a self-starter who is willing to ask questions in order to work towards the Team’s goal of providing comprehensive and empathetic support to as many of our clients as possible. Interns should be prepared to speak and write to Department of Corrections’ staff and other bureaucratic agencies on behalf of our clients’ interest and safety. As such, applicants must have good communication and organizational skills and must possess a strong interest in advocating for people convicted of crimes.
Interns for the Summer 2021 semester may work remotely.
Interested students should send a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample via email by April 21, 2021 to Lauren J. Springer, Coordinating Attorney for Client Support Services at lspringer@cfal.org. Multi-lingual interns are encouraged to apply. CAL particularly welcomes applications from people of color; people with disabilities; and gay, lesbian, and transgender people. We are looking for rising undergraduate juniors and seniors.