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Activists Call On Legislature To Take Steps To Reduce Prison Population

Representatives Of Prison Reform Group WISDOM Present Policy Recommendations At State Capitol

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There are currently about 22,000 people serving sentences in Wisconsin prisons. Photo: Rennett Snow (CC-BY)

About 150 prison activists from across the state descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday calling on legislators to take steps endorsed by a prison reform group to cut Wisconsin’s inmate population in half.

There are a wide range of policy changes that members of the group WISDOM say could result in the release of thousands of prisoners and divert thousands more from being sent to prison before the end of next year. The group outlined those changes in its presentation on Wednesday of its “11×15 Blueprint for Ending Mass Incarceration in Wisconsin.”

David Liners, WISDOM’s executive director, said one of the group’s demands is to release some of the 2,800 inmates who were sentenced before the state’s Truth In Sentencing law went into effect and are now eligible for parole.

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Representatives of WISDOM presenting recommended policy initiatives at the state Capitol on Wednesday. Photo: Gilman Halsted/WPR News.

“If they’re not a danger to our society, our question is ‘Why are we keeping them in prison?’” said Liners. “We need to review these cases and move those people out. It needs to become a major priority. We can reduce the prison population pretty quickly.”

WISDOM is calling on the governor to order the Department of Corrections to review the cases of the inmates who fall into this category. The group also wants the governor to have Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson appoint an ombudsman to oversee that process.

Taycheedah Correctional Institute inmate Holly Long is hoping that review will pay off for her. She’s served 17 years of a 30-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

“After a certain amount of time, the system no longer is helping you,” she said. “It’s like over-correction. It basically makes you more susceptible to becoming institutionalized. They base it on sufficient time and punishment. But I’m not sure what that consists of. I think that I’ve served enough time.”

WISDOM officials asked for the parole review earlier this year. DOC officials responded by saying that the current parole system is operating effectively. Calls to DOC for comment on the group’s demand weren’t immediately returned.

Another Taycheedah inmate, 62-year-old Nancy Ezell, could benefit if another of WISDOM’s demands is met. Ezell has served 16 years of a 65-year sentence for selling 13 grams of cocaine. Ezell has had multiple major heart surgeries paid for by the state while incarcerated and now needs an oxygen tank with her at all times.

Joyce Ellwanger, of WISDOM’s Milwaukee chapter, said Ezell is one of many aged and ailing inmates that should be given compassionate release if they have a family or a nursing home ready to care for them.

“It’s a financially unsustainable burden on the the pocketbooks of Wisconsin taxpayers and the state budget. Now’s the time to change a prison culture that pushes these aging and ill prisoners to the edges, neglects their needs and discourages them from applying for release,” said Ellwanger.

Last year the parole board released only eight of 23 inmates who were eligible for release because of their failing health. Increasing that number may prove to be difficult.

WISDOM activists are more optimistic about another reform: They’re asking for a $20 million boost in funding for treatment and diversion programs like drug courts in the next state budget. The Rev. Joe Ellwanger, of Milwaukee, said that last year lawmakers approved $4 million for those programs.That meant more than a thousand fewer inmates went to prison.

“$20 million is possible … and that’s talking about 3 thousand people that could be kept out of the prison system in a year,” said Ellwanger.

There’s support for most of WISDOM’s reforms on the Democratic side of the aisle, but less so among Republicans who control the Legislature.