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GRACE: There's a whole wall of legal boxes stacked one atop the other. And those records are now sitting in this room in the basement - the entire legal history, basically the entire saga of what brought those men from Cuba to the roof of the prison in Talladega. You can't just keep these people in jail until they die.īRANTLEY: The legal defense from dozens of attorneys for hundreds of clients generates an enormous amount of paperwork. They're not being held because they're charged with a crime. I mean, people who had been following it knew that these people were being indefinitely detained. LESHAW: There was some sympathy for the situation they were in. We got a bunch of volunteers from Atlanta, drove to Talladega, talked to clients.īRANTLEY: Lawyers and volunteers for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society had represented hundreds of these Cuban clients. When I was at Talladega, that's how I spent my Saturdays every other - at least every other weekend. LESHAW: If you were on that list to be deported and you were still in custody, you ended up in Talladega.

And they'd asked because Leshaw had represented many of them for years in their attempts to get released. GRACE: And he's doing all this because he wants us to have access to what has been brought out of storage and placed in the basement.īRANTLEY: When the men on the roof took over the prison in Talladega, they'd asked the FBI if Gary Leshaw could be one of the mediators. This is Chip and Andy - more Cuban stuff.

GRACE: Gary wants us to meet some of the attorneys, the building manager, the security guy. LESHAW: I'm going upstairs, but we'll be up and down, so don't lock me out. And he still does a lot of volunteer work for legal aid, so he finds himself in the office quite a bit. While Gary is now retired, he worked here for 20 years.

I mean, I'm - I don't - I'm happy to talk to you guys. And our guide - Gary Leshaw, a longtime staff attorney here. GRACE: We're in downtown Atlanta at the offices of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. LESHAW: More people working on the Cuban stuff. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Justice, freedom or death. LINDA CALHOUN: Even though we were a hostage and they threatened us and everything, they still treated us with dignity and respect. JERRY WALSH: Had the whole list been deported, there wouldn't have been any more reason for my job. ROBERT MACNEIL: Cuban inmates took over part of a federal prison in Talladega, Ala., today. MARY HOGAN: You had that kind of in the back of your head, that bad things could happen any second.

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