In a new reform plan presented by the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy (DPA), members of the department are requesting that lawmakers in Frankfort give Public Defenders higher compensation for their positions. The current pay of Public Defenders is a little more than $58,000 according to the department.
The call was made by Damon Preston, who leads the DPA as Kentucky’s Public Advocate. Preston stated that the reform push was because of other major cities in surrounding states paying Public Defenders more for their services than cities in the Commonwealth, such as Louisville. This lower compensation has led to a high workload for Public Defenders, as well as a high turnover rate for the Department.
“We have had occasions in some offices where the snowball effect increases turnover because people feel dumped on,” Preston told WLKY. “Almost as soon as they get in the door, some of our 400 public defenders start leaving. So by the time you get to the spring, we will have, likely, 40-50, perhaps more, vacancies in the spring until we’re able to refill the bucket again next August.”
The turnover rate is around 20% per year, according to Preston, which equates to one in five attorneys leaving the agency each year. When this occurs, the cases the resigned attorneys were working on are pushed to the remaining attorneys to be completed, furthering their workload and leading to delays in numerous cases.
“That [turnover rate] is an enormous drain on our criminal justice system,” Preston stated. “By the time they get to sentencing, that client has had four or five attorneys because of turnover.” Preston concluded by stating, “that undermines the whole system.”
Because of this issue, Preston, along with Deputy Public Advocate Mealnie Lowe, wrote the Defender Reform Plan of 2026 to help increase retention rates of public defenders. The budget portion of the plan contains six parts: funding for a dedicated recruiting and retention program, a paralegal at every DPA office in the Commonwealth, essential contracts and court plan and Necessary Technology for the DPAs. The plan also seeks to establish 21 attorneys positions to serve 21 unserved circuits without a DPA office.
Preston said that this would be an additional $20 million added to their current funding of $100 million per year. He also said that this levels the playing field for the DPA since prosecutors in the state saw a similar budget increase last budget cycle.
“That’s why I am titling this the Balanced Justice Plan,” Preston said. “We were flat-lined two years ago, while prosecutors got a big bump. “I think it’s time that the defense in Kentucky gets that same raise.”
The start of the next legislative session in Frankfort begins Jan. 6, 2026. Both Preston and Lowe hold hope for the variations to be adopted, despite similar variations failing to pass in the past. “I don’t think that there’s particular pushback from legislators,” Lowe told WLKY. “There’s a lot on the table they’re dealing with, a lot of competing interests in each session.”
It remains to be seen if legislators will enact Preston and Lowe’s plan.
Photo courtesy of DPA.KY. org.
