U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie of the Eastern District of New York on Friday refused to order the Bureau of Prisons to create a plan for the expansion of New York City inmates' access to their attorneys, but she urged BOP officials to work on legal access issues regardless.

After attorneys for the Federal Defenders of New York said some inmates have waited two weeks to talk to their lawyers, Brodie reminded BOP officials that all requests for calls should be scheduled within 48 hours.

Sean Hecker of Kaplan Hecker & Fink, who is representing the Federal Defenders, sent a four-page letter to Brodie on Thursday evening, asking her to set a 10-day deadline for the BOP to create a plan for expanded legal access.

"We're in the process of mediation. I don't think it's particularly helpful for you to keep coming to the court asking for orders," Brodie told Hecker during Friday's conference.

In the letter, Hecker explained that the BOP must find a way to meet current requests for calls and the anticipated increase in needs at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center and Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center.

"We believe that the 6th Amendment requires more than arranging short phone calls between attorneys and clients, and we are eager to engage constructively with the BOP to develop a plan to ensure that the 6th Amendment is given full effect as individuals prepare to defend the cases against them," he said after the conference.

Inmates are likely to need more frequent and longer conversations with their attorneys as the courts move beyond applications for release related to coronavirus and hold more substantive proceedings, Hecker said during the conference.

"We believe that the 6th Amendment requires more than arranging short phone calls between attorneys and clients, and we are eager to engage constructively with the BOP to develop a plan to ensure that the 6th Amendment is given full effect as individuals prepare to defend the cases against them," he said after the conference.

Access to video calls has been limited at both facilities, attorneys said. Lawyers who want to videoconference with inmates at the MDC have to go to a courthouse to make the call, which has been a particular challenge.

Hecker said the 10-day deadline would provide "accountability" for the facilities, arguing that improvements without court orders have happened slowly or not at all.

Former U.S. Attorney General and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison partner Loretta Lynch is mediating the case, and she reported that most call requests were completed this week. An "overflow" of call requests on one floor of the MDC has been partly ameliorated by allowing calls to take place in the morning, she said, and the same practice could be used on other floors.

Deirdre von Dornum, attorney-in-charge of the Federal Defenders for the Eastern District of New York, said the problem of "overflow" on pretrial floors is more severe than Lynch described. Legal call requests are sent "to the back of the list" so that inmates can make their virtual court appearances, she said.

Von Dornum said some basic problems still need to be fixed. One inmate was recently brought in for a call but kept shackled throughout, she said, so he couldn't reach the documents he was trying to discuss with his lawyer.

Brodie said she understood the Federal Defenders may be "dissatisfied" with the speed of the proceedings, but she said she believed all sides were doing their best.

Lynch said she is also discussing the resumption of in-person legal visits with both parties, although the reopening timeline is not yet clear.

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