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Imagine falling into the hardest of times – caring for a disabled spouse in old age or struggling with a sudden mental health crisis – all while facing something you never expected: a criminal case. For many people, this is a matter of circumstance, of poverty and of a system that shows little mercy to those navigating it alone.
If you were in Hinds County, you might get a lucky break. We, the former client advocates of the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office, could step up to support you.
Client advocates are trained professionals embedded in the defender’s office who, among other things, connect clients with the social services, housing, healthcare and mental health support they need to stabilize their lives – and their cases. Your local defender’s office was using our help to break new ground, implementing cutting-edge methods to increase the wellbeing of our most vulnerable neighbors, while lowering the likelihood of future crime.
We came to Jackson from LSU and Pomona College – drawn by the belief that this work matters and that Mississippi is a place where change is possible. Over two years, we saw this belief proven right. We also saw what happens when public defenders aren’t supported.
Over our two-year fellowship here, we connected 274 clients with 366 services, like local food banks, and leveraged our relationships with community-based providers to help clients find refuge in transitional housing. Our impact meant that residents reclaimed meaningful time in their communities rather than behind bars.
What does this look like in practice? An elderly veteran, devoted to his wife, was on the verge of eviction. They had been through months of unanswered phone calls, endless redirections, and confusing, unsuccessful applications. But with our help, they secured income-adjusted housing that included meals, as well as much-needed dental and medical care that opened the door to a more stable life. This transition marked a stark contrast to the client’s last involvement with the criminal legal system decades earlier.
Hannah Williams Credit: Courtesy photoNow, our client is making it to his court hearings and has paid off his court fines. He is one step closer to reestablishing stability and working toward independence for his family.
When properly resourced and given the support to innovate, this is the true power of public defense. We were proud to bring our work to Hinds County and for what we accomplished. We have now concluded our fellowship with the public defender, but our work lives on through the efforts of the talented and tireless attorneys, social workers, investigators and office staff at the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office.
That effort, however, needs more support.
Unless the Hinds County Board of Supervisors acts to provide additional funding for fiscal year 2027, the public defender’s office will remain severely under-resourced. Earlier this year, the board of supervisors voted to award $261,000 in surplus funds toward salary increases for the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office.
This is a meaningful start, but it is a far cry from the approximately $1 million needed to fully stabilize the office, achieve more sustained pay parity and let the office keep doing forward-thinking work that lowers future crime, increases community stability and fosters opportunity for low-income families.
The right to effective legal counsel is not a courtesy. It is a constitutional guarantee. But in Hinds County, that guarantee is under serious strain. Caseloads are crushing, and they grew worse in 2025 when a fifth circuit courtroom was added to the county with no corresponding increase in public defenders.
Meanwhile, assistant public defenders earn an average of more than $50,000 less than their prosecutor counterparts, a disparity that makes recruiting qualified attorneys nearly impossible and retaining experienced ones even harder.
When defenders aren’t supported, cycles of harm are perpetuated: defenders burn out and resign, cases linger even longer, courtrooms and jails become even more overburdened and the Raymond Detention Center, already strained beyond humane capacity, grows more crowded.
Consequences spiral: families are separated and both local economies and public health suffer as jails send people home sicker, poorer and less able to thrive. When you consider the research showing that prolonged pretrial detention actually increases future crime, the harm of this backlog is even more evident.
Shanai Watson Credit: Courtesy photoIt doesn’t have to be this way. An up-front investment from our lawmakers can not only move our system faster and reduce harm but turn defense into the incredible service access point we’ve helped create here in Hinds County.
Instead of derailing lives, we can redirect them. Instead of sapping community health, we can improve it. Instead of leeching dollars out of our neighborhoods, we can restore opportunities and prosperity.
The fix is not complicated. Providing the funding that the defenders need to equalize salaries and stabilize the office, as well as additional positions for attorneys, investigators and legal secretaries to address case backlogs, means that clients will get the care and legal support they need. It is also a sign from supervisors that they are serious about the promise of equal justice and opportunity for all citizens.
By funding public defense, we can address the underlying needs that land people in the legal system in the first place, saving money in the long run.
Over the next month, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors will decide on the public defender’s budget. We encourage the board to approve Chief Defender Gail Wright Lowery’s full budget request.
We came to Jackson believing in public service. We leave having witnessed, firsthand, what it looks like when a community’s most vulnerable people are met with both legal skills and human care. The attorneys, investigators, social workers and staff at the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office give everything they have. They deserve a level of funding that recognizes that dedication.
Shanai Watson joined the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office in 2024. She graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology (concentration in criminology, minor in political science) and from Northeastern University with a master’s in public policy. At the conclusion of her fellowship, she will attend Harvard Law School, starting in the fall, where she plans to continue exploring the intersections of public interest law, policy and government.
Hannah Williams joined the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office after graduating from Pomona College with a bachelor’s degree in public policy analysis and sociology. At the conclusion of her fellowship, she will pursue her master’s in public administration at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service as a Georgina and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Service fellow, starting in the fall.
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