CONYERS — Rockdale County will be spared from any major overhaul of part of its public defender program even if state legislators decide to have counties control more of the legal representation program for the poor.

A proposal being considered in the General Assembly would hold counties responsible for assigning defense attorneys to their indigent defendants in conflict cases, cases involving more than one defendant. The state has assigned private, out-of-town attorneys for these conflict cases through the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. The result has been increased costs and a string of lawsuits alleging poor representation, said Chief Public Defender Steven Purvis.

“When you get folks going to a system like that, whatever (a private attorney’s) bill is whatever the system will pay, but no one has any control over what they bill,” Purvis said.

Purvis said Rockdale County already pays for all conflict cases out of its budget. A panel of 10 local attorneys, on a rotational basis, handles conflict cases.

“Our circuit, where we kept it local, works, continues to work and we haven’t been sued,” Purvis said.

However, Rockdale’s public defender program is not shielded from the effects of growth in the number of indigent residents requesting representation.

“The number of people who are applying for our services has gone way, way up,” Purvis said.

And it is going to keep going up, according to Purvis.

He said five or 10 years ago, local lawyers would charge $500 to $1,500 for felony cases. “You could scratch up the money for a local lawyer,” Purvis said.

“Nowadays, the private bar is charging $3,000, $4,000 to handle that case. So the price of local lawyers has gone up in the last 10 years, just like everything else out there has gone up,” Purvis said.

That puts strain on the public defender system, to the point where the local office needs to hire more lawyers, according to Purvis. He estimates the local office, currently staffed with eight attorneys, will need additional staff within the next two years.

“The numbers just this year have now increased to the point where we should probably be asking for extra assistance from the county where we haven’t had to ask in the past,” Purvis said.

On average, more than half of cases on a monthly trial calendar are represented by a Rockdale County public defender. And there is no particular pattern of crimes where public defense is requested.

“I’m not sure I can keep saying that my staff can handle it without extra assistance with additional staff members,” Purvis said. “It’s getting tough.”

But more can be done to address increased criminal cases besides increasing legal representation.

“There’s a host of things that can be done,” Purvis said. “Whether the Legislature has a will to do it, that’s something else entirely.”

Purvis pointed out that compared to other countries, the United States has a large percentage of its population in state control, “either in prison, parole or on probation.”

“That’s more than Russia. That’s more than China. That’s more than any dictatorship out there,” Purvis said. “So that tells you one of two things — either we’re the most evil country that has existed on the face of this planet or we’re doing something wrong.”

Purvis likes to think we’re doing something wrong.

“And what that wrong is is we use incarceration as our only solution rather than treatment,” Purvis said.

Touching on the war on drugs, the 16-year veteran public defense attorney said intervention, treatment and rehabilitation for minor offenses would cost less than incarceration. But those alternatives have often been abandoned by lawmakers as unaffordable. While those alternatives to incarceration work, it has become more “electorally popular” to increase a crime’s penalty, putting more in jail, he said.

“No one ever lost an election getting tough on crime,” Purvis said. “They win elections getting tough on crime.”