The Hays County Commissioners Court has moved forward with creating a Public Defender’s Office (PDO) and will use $5 million from the American Rescue Plan to fund the project.
A PDO will legally represent individuals who cannot afford their representation in court. Additionally, a PDO will accelerate the judicial process and promote a fair trial system for the defendant.
The current model of court-appointed attorneys can be slow and leaves people waiting in jail for weeks or even months, a wait time that aims to be dramatically decreased once the office becomes operational.
“Right now, people are in [jail] for months, not yet found guilty and have not yet seen a judge,” says Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. “If you have a storage [unit] and don’t pay it for two months that stuff is all sold, you’ve probably lost your apartment, gotten your car repossessed and maybe gotten kicked out of school when it all could’ve been avoided.”
According to Becerra, the Hays County Jail is overpopulated and expensive. Inmates are outsourced every day to other jails in different counties. The weekly cost of outsourcing inmates was $50,000 in 2020. The creation of a Public Defender’s Office will open space in the jail and help drive outsourcing numbers down.
As of Aug. 22, 82% or 498 inmates in the Hays County Jail are held for pretrial and are still awaiting representation, according to the Hays County Jail Dashboard. Along with accelerating pretrial wait times, the Public Defender’s Office is part of Hays County’s cite and divert initiative.
Cite and divert works to keep people out of jail and the PDO will give them representation if they are arrested. Becerra says crimes like felony drug offenses can have a devastating impact on individuals such as university students who may not have legal representation.
“My biggest hope is to end arresting people needlessly. Of course, I do not excuse aggressive crimes or crimes against people. Victimless crimes like the one’s Governor Perry put out and the list of cite and release offenses, all that stuff should not bog our justice system down, our jails should not be overcrowded, and people’s lives shouldn’t be ruined,” Becerra says.
Social justice organization Mano Amiga has pushed for the creation of a Public Defender’s Office in Hays County since 2018. Despite an initial setback when a grant application through the Texas Indigent Defense Commission was denied, advocates at Mano Amiga continued to push for the creation of the PDO.
“It was a devastating setback, but it was not a loss. We refused to treat it as a loss. I really just want people to realize that we really have the power when we show up and speak out, we win,” says Mano Amiga Campaign Fellow Samantha Benavidez.
Mano Amiga Policy Director Eric Martinez believes the PDO will support those who are experiencing financial hardship and will establish balance within the justice system.
“Many people in our community are at or near or below the poverty line. Three out of four of the people who will have a felony charge against them will be declared indigent,” Martinez says. “Texas Indigent Defense Commission, Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute and others, show that Public Defender’s Offices reduce days of pretrial incarceration and get shorter or reduced sentences for those who are convicted or plead guilty.”
The Hays County Public Defender’s Office is set to become operational in 2022.