Group Hopes to Cut Wis. Prison Population in Half

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A statewide coalition of church based groups is stepping up its campaign to cut the state’s prison population in half within the next three years. At the state capitol in Madison Friday, the group got a pep talk from a national prison reform activist.

As its name proclaims the 11 By 15 campaign hopes to cut the current state prison population of 22,000 in half by the year 2015. More than a hundred volunteers gathered at the capitol Friday to get advice on how to do that from Nicole Porter of the New York based Sentencing Project. Porter says states like New York and Kansas have successfully cut prison populations by increasing funding for treatment instead of prison programs.

“There might be cheaper options in the community that can continue to hold people accountable for their offenses, allows them to continue to work in the community and maintain ties with their family. There are evidence-based programs that judges feel secure in sanctioning. Those options should be a central part of the sentencing framework in Wisconsin.’”

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John Stedman of the Eau Claire chapter of 11 by 15 says that means moving money spent warehousing prisoners to what he calls the front end or treatment. He says the group has already asked the Department of Corrections to boost treatment funding by $75 million.

“We asked for a lot of money, and they said no. Go figure. But we’re starting to have the conversation. We’re starting to measure impacts of investment. What if we moved money from the back to the front? That’s the place that it has to start and that’s where we are frankly.”

A handful of legislators and their staff attended Friday’s gathering. So far, there are no solid budget proposals for re-prioritizing Wisconsin’s current $1.3 billion prison budget.