It's about time. Finally, a judge has stepped in to the mess that has become the criminal justice system in New Orleans and ordered that more public defenders be hired.

The order, issued Monday by judges in the Criminal District Court, said mismanagement of the Orleans Parish Indigent Defender Program has denied poor defendants their 6th Amendment right to proper legal representation. "Day to day, defendants are in jail that just aren't getting the representation that they should be getting," Chief Judge Raymond Bigelow said.

Under the order, the public defender's office must hire 12 public defenders one for every courtroom by Dec. 1, which will double the number of public defenders in each section of criminal court. Currently, there is one attorney in each of the 12 sections.

Statistics show that 90% of New Orleans defendants rely on public defenders.

Here's more, more and more on the city's problems since Katrina. Although, getting justice in Louisiana was no picnic before Katrina either.