Senate funds pilot to place public defenders in rural counties; critics say process lacked full review

The Mississippi Senate approved funding for a pilot that the state public defender’s office says will place public defenders and an investigator into rural counties, but several senators said the program was added in the budget process without a standalone bill or full committee debate.

Senator Wiggins, explaining the measure folded into the public-defender budget, said the plan puts a pilot office in the Fifth Circuit and would fund two attorneys and an investigator to provide representation in rural areas: “What we are doing with that is bringing public defenders to rural counties,” he told the chamber. The Senate’s final action for the public-defender unit totaled $5,219,135, which included about $668,000 in one-time funds labeled a pilot program.

Several senators asked for more detail before voting. Senator Silver asked whether the pilot had been the subject of a standalone bill; Wiggins said the office had presented the proposal to budget committees, but it had not been separately passed by the legislature. Senator Sparks and others noted that language the House added late in the process — restricting the funds so they could not replace locally appointed county public defenders — was not discussed with the Senate. Senator Blackman warned that removing that language could “kill” the bill because the House had gone home and that the late addition made it hard to amend now.

Supporters said the pilot seeks to address a shortage of attorneys willing to take public defense work in rural parts of the state and will be evaluated as a time-limited program. Critics said more vetting and clearer statutory language would be appropriate before creating a new statewide model. The bill passed on a roll-call vote and the Senate indicated it will expect performance data if the pilot proceeds.