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Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI), a New Orleans-based decarceration organization, forges partnerships with law firms across the country on novel and system-changing cases. Join PJI on Thursday, October 8th as we explore one such case, VOTE et al. v. LeBlanc et al., with experts and legal professionals tracing the deliberate evolution from chattel slavery to prison labor in the incarceration capital of the world - Louisiana We will begin the evening with PJI’s short film, Plantations and Prisons: A History of Forced Labor in Louisiana, which has been screened around the world, including to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Following the film, PJI Executive Director, Samantha Kennedy, will lead a discussion about Angola's "Farm Line" and current litigation with: - Everett "Buff" Offray - PJI Board Member who was incarcerated at Angola and labored for 5 years on the "Farm Line"; - Andrea Armstrong - Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola University New Orleans, College of Law and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow (Incarceration Law Scholar), and a key partner in the 18-month planning project for PJI’s End Plantation Prisons Project; and - Samantha (Sammy) Pourciau - PJI Senior Staff Attorney and lead counsel on VOTE v. LeBlanc et al. -Jeremy Benjamin - Senior Counsel at Paul, Weiss and co-counsel on PJI's class action litigation against Angola prison. Proceeds from this event will further PJI's mission to end mass incarceration and the "Farm Line" in Louisiana. If you are unable to attend this event, please consider a donation to PJI. Promise of Justice Initiative thanks the following for their support: Paul, Weiss Davis Polk Debevoise & Plimpton Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Squire Patton Boggs Asian American Bar Association Caribbean Bar Association The National Black Prosecutors Association Metropolitan Black Bar Association New York City For more information, contact: Crystal Gross cgross@defendla.org (504) 529-5595