Coronavirus in rural America (Part CLXXXII): On the shortage of public defenders in Oregon's rural reaches as court systems play catchup after pandemic

This story is by Garrett Andrews for The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon):  "Another tough year ahead expected for Oregon public defenders."  Here's an excerpt that focuses on the shortage of public defenders in rural Oregon:  

Rural public defense offices, down bodies when COVID-19 hit, got by during the court slowdown from 2020-2022. They’ve found their current staffing levels are inadequate to meet demand created by the justice system. This has led to where the state is now: 39 inmates statewide without representation and 65 out-of-custody defendants, as of last week.

When COVID-19 hit, to limit jail population for social distancing, Deschutes County judges set aside signed arrest warrants in less-serious cases. But police have now started arresting people based on those warrants and hundreds of new cases are expected to hit the docket.

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Though not limited to Oregon by a long stretch, the state is among the hardest hit by the problem. Earlier this month, a majority of Oregon’s public defense providers refused to sign their latest contract with the state, citing workloads so extreme they risked violating their professional ethics by taking new cases. Concessions were made to win over holdouts, and officials are meeting regularly to address the issue of unrepresented inmates. The lack of public defenders has exposed larger issues in the justice system, which looks ripe for another tough fiscal year ahead.

In his pitch to prospective hires, Erik Swallow leans into the idea his office is essentially a training ground for larger and better-paying firms. The director of Umpqua Valley Public Defenders in Roseburg [population 24,000] stresses the area’s natural amenities: small-town friendliness and the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.

This "training ground" pitch reminds me of a commonly used label on this blog "urban use of the rural." 

The office has been rocked by vacancies since the Oregon justice system erased its pandemic-related backlog earlier this year, the result of retirements and younger lawyers leaving to work at state agencies and firms in more urban areas.

To help explain why 10 people now sit unrepresented in the local jail, Swallow provided a rundown of his recent staff departures to the board that oversees public defense contracting in Oregon, the Public Defense Services Commission, at a recent board meeting.

Despite spending $3,000 a month on recruiting in national publications, the Umpqua Valley office has received just one application for one of three open positions over the past six months. Now, the office no longer takes new minor felony cases.

I couldn't help think of this Oregon story in relation to this national piece that ran last week in Pro Publica.  Alec MacGillis reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico and Wichita, Kansas, contrasting how courts in the two different cities managed court proceedings during the pandemic. Wichita tried to maintain case processing, while Albuquerque's court system essentially shut down.  In both the Pro Publica story and the Oregon story in The Bulletin, we see court systems responding to conditions dramatically changed by the pandemic and the public health dictates that flowed from it.