Wisconsin's current public defender system sometimes has people sit in jail as they wait for an attorney to represent them.
In some cases, men and women wait weeks or even months to see a judge.
"It can take between 100 and 200 calls to try to find somebody who's able to take the case," Green Bay Regional Public Defender Manager Jeff Cano said. "It's very difficult."
The public defender's office represents people who can't afford an attorney. The lawyers in the office are able to take about 60% of eligible cases. The other 40% go out to private attorneys.
Private attorneys get a $40 per hour rate on those cases. It's been that same rate since 1995, and attorney's say it's not enough to cover their overhead. Many attorneys don't take the cases anymore. While Cano's office tries to find an attorney who will take a case, potential clients often wait in jail.
"It's frustrating, and it's hard," Cano said. "We have clients who have a loss of liberty, who are unable to get their case heard because they're sitting in jail. It's hard to see."
Retired attorney Hank Schultz has referred to the current rate as a constitutional crisis.
"It's a gigantic problem," Schultz said. "They're (clients) in custody, evidence disappears, witnesses forget things, they lose their jobs, they may lose custody of their children, they fall behind on child support. These are all things that wouldn't necessarily happen if there was an adequate indigent defense system in the state."
In Wisconsin, there is another option for people who can't afford an attorney. A judge can also appoint a lawyer to an offender. The rate for attorney's on those cases is $70 an hour. It will go up to $100 an hour in 2020. Those cases also come at county expense.
"That's the real problem," Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh said. "It has become a problem for our local legislators as well because they don't believe they should be paying for a court-appointed attorney for someone who is eligible for a state-paid attorney."
There's also another cost. The Brown County Sheriff said each inmate in jail costs taxpayers roughly $50 a day. If someone is waiting in jail for two months, or 60 days, that's a $3,000 cost to the taxpayers.
Walsh said he's able to find attorneys with that higher hourly rate.
"So you can tell that it's related to the hourly rate that they're getting paid," he said.
Wisconsin will soon see if that's the case. The recently signed state budget raises the public defender rate to $70 an hour. The state's public defenders office expects it will help find attorneys.
"I think it's going to make a substantial difference," Cano said. "It's not going to be a cure-all, but I think it will be substantial."
Others in the system aren't so sure.
"It's a band aid approach, but not really a significant one," Schultz said.
Schultz is considering filing a lawsuit to try and get more than one rate change. He wants a permanent fix, with a rate indexed to inflation and a separate budget line for private attorneys. His previous efforts on the legislative side haven't advanced.
"If we don't get it fixed now, it'll be another 40 years," Schultz said.
For now, as calls continue to be made, clients continue to wait in jail.
"We have the cases for them," Cano said. "The only question for them is if they're willing to take it."
