Catch 22 0
What’s it like to attempt to defend prisoners imprisoned with no charges, granted no rights?
Here from the lawyers who have taken pro bono cases for the wretches swept up in the Bushie dragnet:
After David McColgin took on a client in 2004, he spent a year and a half just trying to meet the man.
“We couldn’t see him without a signature,” the veteran federal defender said, “but we couldn’t get his signature without seeing him.”
Then again, his colleague Christi Charpentier noted, it’s hard to get a client to trust you if he thinks you’re either a secret agent or a powerless pawn.
“He wanted us to bring him cigarettes,” she said of one wary detainee. “And we couldn’t.”
Even good news from Gitmo is maddeningly surreal, as federal defender Shawn Nolan experienced.
“I got an e-mail last February from the government saying, ‘Your clients are eligible for release.’ ”
“I e-mailed right back asking, ‘What does this mean?’ ”
Despite all his efforts, he’s still waiting for a response.
But wait! There’s more!
Follow the link to read the whole damned sad story of the perfidy of the Current Federal Administration.
