New Orleans — ON an ordinary day, the Criminal District Court here begins with a parade of handcuffed and shackled defendants being led out from cages behind the judge’s bench by sheriff’s deputies. They are clad in orange jumpsuits and are almost exclusively African-American men. They rattle and shuffle their way onto benches and into the empty jury box, waiting for the judge.

When their case is called, a lawyer from the public defender’s office will rise and say: “Your Honor, we do not have a lawyer for this person at this time.”

Eight-five percent of these defendants are unable to afford their own lawyer and will need a public defender to represent them. But in New Orleans, where I am in charge of the public defender’s office, we simply don’t have enough lawyers to handle the caseload. Last month, we began refusing new cases.

In a state with one of the nation’s highest poverty rates, the system to defend the poor is broken.

To understand why, look at the other people in the courtroom sitting on benches set aside for the audience. Most of these people aren’t there to watch the proceedings. Many were subpoenaed for failing to pay fines or fees for minor offenses and had to take time from work to appear in court or be charged with contempt. Those fines and fees pay for two-thirds of the Louisiana public defender system. The rest comes from the state.