Thomas Frampton / Law

Before I became a professor, my full-time job was representing those accused of crimes in Louisiana, the mass incarceration capital of the United States (and the world). The ghosts of slavery haunt the criminal legal system there. The largest state prison, known as Angola, has operated continuously as a plantation since before the Civil War. The experience of being in these places—of connecting the dots between racialized historical processes and the lived reality of contemporary mass incarceration—has shaped my trajectory as a scholar ever since. I now study and write about race, legal history, and mass incarceration, but I continue to do pro bono criminal defense and civil rights work there, which I constantly seek to integrate into my teaching.

My Dream Idea would be to bring a group of 6-8 students interested in similar work to Louisiana, to both learn and work. For me, visiting prisons as a law student, and learning from people who were currently or formerly incarcerated, launched me down the path of becoming a public defender and civil rights attorney. I want my students to hear and smell these places, and to meet and interact with some remarkable individuals who live and work there. Over the course of a decade in Louisiana, my wife—UVA Law clinical professor Kelly Orians—and I built relationships with scores of remarkable figures involved in the criminal legal system, and leading this trip would allow me to enlist them in this project.

After working together on cases in Charlottesville throughout the year, a team of students would join me for a five-day trip to conduct depositions, visit incarcerated clients at prison facilities throughout the state, and attend court hearings. When we’re not working, I would like to take the students to the Whitney Plantation (one of the only former plantations in America restored to commemorate the enslaved people who worked there) and EJI’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice (both of which should be required experiences for any law student). Evening sessions of the excursion will take place on Frenchman Street or other local music venues, where students will listen to live music while discussing contemporary criminal justice issues with legendary civil rights attorneys, formerly incarcerated advocates, “progressive prosecutors,” public defenders, and judges.

The possibility of offering such a trip for my students—something I don’t think I would have even contemplated without Mead Endowment support—is incredibly exciting. To share with my students my passion for this history, this place, and this subject-matter through a transformative excursion would be a highlight of my (admittedly still pretty young) teaching career. 

BUDGET:

8 x $5 – Legal Museum and National Memorial (Montgomery, AL) tickets

8 x $25 – Whitney Plantation Tour (Edgard, LA) tickets

8 x $25 – Preservation Hall (New Orleans, LA) tickets

$600 – Large passenger van rental (four days)

$550 – Rental of large group house for one night in Montgomery, AL 

$350 x 4 – Group dinners in New Orleans with practitioners and formerly incarcerated leaders

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$2,950