University of Virginia Library

Inmate Program

Students To Aid Convicts
Faced With Prison Trials

By CINDI STUART

A group of University law
students will begin orientation
today for the Inmate Advocate
Program which will allow them
to serve as lay counsel for
prisoners charged with prison
rules violations.

An agreement between
Stephen Bricker, a
representative of the law
school's project, and W.K.
Cunningham, director of the
state's Division of Corrections,
was signed Feb. 6 in
Richmond.

Presenting Cases

The agreement allows
students to represent those
prisoners accused of prison
infractions by presenting their
cases to a disciplinary board in
an informal hearing.

The Inmate Advocate
Program is a part of the Post
Conviction Project, begun at
the University in response to
the 1970 Landman court order
requiring safeguards for
inmates in disciplinary
hearings.

This order guarantees a
hearing to a prisoner before he
can be punished and requires
that he have outside counsel or
aid from fellow prisoners in the
hearing.

About 30 University law
students are presently involved
in the Post Conviction
Assistance Program, while
William and Mary Law School
has 20 participants.

Only University students
are working on the Inmate
Advocate Program, the first
such program in Virginia.

Program Might Expand

These students will operate
at the Augusta Correctional
unit in Greenville, just outside
Waynesboro. According to Mr.
Bricker, this is a model program
and, if successful,will expand to
other prisons near law schools.

In today's orientation,
students will sit in on two
hearings. After observing for
about two weeks, they will
begin representing prisoners.

The student attorneys will
argue through cross
examinations whether the
prison's accusation against the
prisoner is justifiable.

According to Bill Schultz a
second year law student
involved in the program, the
students will argue for an
appropriate punishment should
the prisoner be found guilty of
a prison infraction.

'Well-Qualified'

Mr. Bricker noted that a law
student is well-qualified for
this program.

"The program needs basic
legal training, but not the full
skill of a lawyer to operate
effectively," he said.

"It is in line with something
law students can do. They can
play lawyer, gaining the
experience of being in the
courtroom while at the same
time doing a good job in
protecting the prisoner's
rights," he said.