It's no secret that the Indigent Defender's Program has been in crisis in New Orleans, with hundreds of cases and no lawyers to represent the poor defendants who had to wait in jail.

The issue of what to do about the Indigent Defender's Program was back in court Monday morning as Judge Calvin Johnson held a hearing on the status of four death penalty cases.

About a month ago, Judge Arthur Hunter released four defendants who were being held on misdemeanor cases after there were no attorneys to represent them.

Stephen Singer, head of the city's Indigent Defender Program, updated Judge Johnson on the status of the four death penalty cases, saying there were still no attorneys to represent them.

Singer said there were about 30 capital cases for the indigent defender’s office and about 18 have attorneys assigned to them.

Judge Johnson gave Singer until next Monday to get attorneys for the four defendants he gave updates on.

Meanwhile, the Indigent Defender's office is being moved in two weeks to a new building down the street from Orleans Criminal District Court. The temporary office has just two computers with Internet access and a back hallway in the facility has been converted into a law library.

"As I stand here right now, they are not getting effective representation,” said Singer. “The public defender’s office is unable to provide all of its clients with the effective assistance of counsel that each one of them is entitled to under the Louisiana and United States’ constitutions."

Singer said he could not guarantee that he would have attorneys to represent the four men in Judge Johnson's courtroom who were being tried on capital cases.

He said he might have two attorneys for two of the cases, but noted it could be several more weeks before he could get attorneys to cover all of the capital cases in the Indigent Defenders Office.