Launched in 2019, the Tulane Law School Women's Prison Project trains future lawyers in the skills necessary to represent clients, become creative legal thinkers, and gain nuanced perspectives on legal system responses to survivors of abuse. It is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Tulane's Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice Clinics. During the WPP's first 5 years, its faculty, students, and staff have worked together to win freedom for sixteen women serving life or long sentences in Louisiana prisons.
The WPP provides legal representation to survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and trafficking - with a particular focus on survivors serving life or long sentences, and those charged or imprisoned after killing an abuser in self-defense of for having committed crimes under an abuser's coercion or duress. Our students get hands-on legal training and opportunities to practice a wide range of essential lawyering skills through:
- Individual representation from pre-trial to post-conviction, parole, and clemency proceedings
- Support for incarcerated people who serve as "jailhouse lawyers"
- Law and policy analysis of legal system responses to crimes of survival
If you are a potential client or advocate for an incarcerated person who might need the WPP's support, download an application here.
If you are a lawyer or criminal legal system professional seeking expert consultation or support, send an email to Becki Kondkar, Stas Moroz, and Carlotta Lepingwell.
How can you get involved?
- Volunteer to provide pro bono assistance or partnership opportunities
- Donate to cover costs associated with intensive case investigation
“To watch her come out of the prison system and to reunite with her family was just the most humbling, beautiful moment. To watch her finally walk free and into this new chapter of her life was fantastic.” Courtney Crowell (L'19)
