Commissioners to consider grant for public defenders office
A grant to help pay for the establishment of a public defenders office in Hays County will be up for discussion at tomorrow morning’s Hays County Commissioners Court meeting.
The commissioners will discuss and consider action authorizing the submission of an application for an Indigent Defense Improvement Grant to the Texas Indigent Defense Commissioner. The state office awards grants to help counties set up new programs to improve indigent defense, such as public defender programs and specialized defenders for mentally ill or juvenile dependents. Commissioners will discuss the grant’s scope and purpose and discuss data compiled to show the potential effects of having a public defender’s office. More than 300 pages of data and research regarding the role of public defenders is included in this week’s commissioners court agenda packet.
According to that research, the county is spending an average of $10,000 to $15,000 per day to outsource inmates, sometimes in faraway counties.
“In order for some attorneys to visit their clients in McLennan County, they would have to embark on a journey that could take longer than five hours roundtrip,” the background information states. “This places a particular burden on indigent defendants housed in McLennan who do not have the means to pay private counsel well enough for in-person visitation to be an economically sound decision for attorneys to make.”
The research also highlights the increased incarceration rate in Hays County -- from 2014 to 2018 the county’s population increased 22 percent, but the total inmate population increased by 82 percent -- and the pretrial population, which the research states accounts for more than 70 percent of Hays County inmates at any given time.
The research lists objectives for the county to pursue: reducing the total Hays County Jail population while maintaining community safety, increasing the proportion of personal recognizance bonds for certain defendants, ensuring that noncitizen defendants receive constitutionally required advising in a timely fashion and ensuring that defendants have counsel advocating for the reasonableness of bonds at magistration.
A grassroots group, the Public Defenders Alliance, has invited residents to speak during public comments on why the county needs a public defenders office.
The Hays County Commissioners Court meets at 9 a.m. on the third floor of the Hays County Courthouse, 111 San Antonio St. Meetings are also streamed live.
