Read on Twitter
. @heathercessnapd is talking to #ksleg about the BIDS (public defender) budget. 81% of employees became public defender's b/c they believe in the work, but workload, poor pay, and burnout have led to 15% turnover in 2020. (From who's left after 25% turnover in year before.) /1
Caseload problems are "a professional and ethical issue". Even under outdated standards, PD's should not be doing more than 150 cases per year. Even with 20% slowdown due to Covid, average for BIDS PD's was 250/year, with the Wichita office as high as 278/year. /2
When a PD office has too many cases they have to shut down to new cases, and assigned counsel must be used. But it's more expensive to use assigned counsel. And because of low ($80/hour) rate, few want to do it and it's hard to find qualified attys for higher level cases. /3
Impact of Covid-19 has only made caseload/staffing issues worse. "We did not have the laptops and webcams (etc.) that we needed." And when we got them "we couldn't distribute them because of lack of IT staff." /4
This has contributed to problems for prosecutors and courts, too, because no one else can function if PD system can't. 85% of criminal cases need a public defender/assigned counsel, so if PD's aren't working nothing else can either. /5
Legislator: Is this all a problem under the 6th Amendment? Cessna: Yes. /6
Cessna wants to shift to a wholistic defense model, addressing the clients as a whole, instead of just processing their cases. In one study, 1 million days of incarceration were saved w/ wholistic defense, while still protecting public safety. /7
Cessna concludes by talking about the #deathpenalty budget, which is 3.5 million/year. Cases are at various stages, but even "historic" cases are not near the final stage of appeal. One legislator could be heard editorializing, "It's cheaper to lock them up." /end
