New York state raiding indigent legal funds for money to make up shortfalls

Story here. The vast majority of homeless people are men. I doubt New York would even consider doing this kind of thing if they were mostly women instead. Excerpt:

'As counties like Monroe struggle to cover the cost of legal defense for the poor, state lawmakers have been raiding tens of millions of dollars from a fund designated for that very purpose.

Over the past six years, the state's elected officials have yanked close to $50 million from a fund designated for indigent legal services.

While the "sweeps," as they are called, have not had immediate impact on a fund designated for indigent defense, those lost millions may be needed in future years as counties across New York try to provide constitutionally sound legal services for the poor. And the practice speaks to a larger issue, advocates for indigent defense services say: A continued unwillingness by state officials to confront a patchwork system of indigent legal aid.

"There isn't a logic to sweeping funds from there if your interest is to have a fund that will improve the quality of public defense," said Jonathan Gradess, who heads the New York State Defenders Association, which works to improve indigent defense.

For decades, public defense services in New York have battled to reach constitutionally mandated levels. Public defense offices are weighted with tremendous caseloads, and counties struggle to cover the costs.

In February, state Office of Indigent Legal Services director William Leahy, addressing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget, denounced the continuing sweeps of money from indigent legal funds. The sweeps could total more than $56 million since 2008, he said.'