In past episodes, we have talked about how the pandemic has highlighted existing issues in the criminal justice system. Back in 2016, the Department of Justice's Inspector General concluded that private prisons posed significantly greater danger to inmate rights and safety. In 2020, these concerns arose again with at least two private prisons becoming COVID-19 hotspots and watchdogs questioning the transparency and accuracy of infection reports coming from those facilities. In this episode, Susie Salmon discusses COVID-19 in private prisons and interviews attorneys John Dacey and Robert Craig of Abolish Private Prisons about the lawsuit against the Arizona Department of Corrections asserting that private prisons are unconstitutional. You can see more about Abolish Private Prisons and the litigation at abolishprivateprisons.org. 

Professor Tessa Dysart interviews David Lat--lawyer, writer, and founder of the Above the Law website--about his personal battle with COVID-19, his recovery, and his insights on how the pandemic has affected and will continue to affect the practice of law, the courts, and the system.

Professor Salmon interviews Nate Wade from the Office of the Pima County Public Defender about being a criminal-defense attorney during the pandemic and efforts to reduce jail overcrowding.

Professor Diana Simon interviews Los Angeles civil litigator Gerald Sauer about how the pandemic has impacted complex civil litigation.

Professor Dysart interviews appellate practitioners and active participants in #AppellateTwitter, Sean Marotta and Raffi Melkonian about how the pandemic has impacted their practices, how they've adapted to the challenges, and how they think appellate practice will change forever in the "new normal" of post-pandemic life.

In this episode, Professor Salmon talks to Professor Stacy Butler about the Innovation for Justice (I4J) Program, designed to train law students to think creatively about how to engineer disruptive change in the legal system and take steps to address the justice gap through technology and other innovations. Professor Butler talks about how the COVID-19 crisis highlights aspects of our broken system and a few of the I4J initiatives tackling some of those issues. 

Professor Susie Salmon interviews UArizona Law Professor Paul Bennett about the challenges of representing a child in dependency proceedings when you can't meet in person. 

Professor Sylvia Lett interviews Judge Laine McDonald of the Municipal Court for the Town of Marana, Arizona regarding how her court has adapted to continue to serve the public under the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 crisis.