by MOSES Publications | Jul 8, 2026 | Advocacy, Featured, Newsletter, Prisons, Sentencing, WISDOM Old Law
Applying for Commutations in Wisconsin: How the New Process is Going
By Sherry Reames
A lot has happened in the weeks since Gov. Evers announced the establishment of an application process for commuting (shortening) some of the long sentences currently being served in Wisconsin prisons. Most of the news so far is positive, but there have been some discouraging developments.
On the negative side, some people are exploiting this opportunity to make a profit, either financially or politically, at the expense of hopeful prisoners and their families. At least one scammer is simply ripping prisoners off by promising to prepare applications that are guaranteed to succeed, but then pocketing the applicants’ Social Security numbers along with their money. Some lawyers are charging thousands of dollars to help with the few parts of the application process that prisoners can’t do for themselves. And some politicians and media sources are stirring up opposition to the very idea of granting an early release to anyone whose victims might still envision them as a threat, no matter how much time has passed and how well they’ve been rehabilitated.
Luckily, there is also quite a bit of good news:
(1) After some initial resistance, prison officials are cooperating with the application process in most cases by providing prisoners with access to the necessary forms, individual records, photocopying, and notary services.
(2) Gov. Evers has released the names and brief biographies of his Commutation Advisory Board appointees, and among them are Jerome Dillard, former (now retired) director of EXPO; former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, who has served on the governor’s Pardon Board; Professor Jonathan Scharrer, who directs the Restorative Justice Project at the UW Law School; and other experts on the legal system, trauma, recovery, and rehabilitation.
(3) Advocates for prisoners, including those in the WISDOM Old Law/ Commutations workgroup, have learned how to complete an application that will be accepted for consideration and are freely sharing that information with others. The process is demanding. It requires applicants to list and explain all their encounters with law enforcement (including any juvenile cases, cases in other states, and charges that were immediately dropped). They must also answer hard questions about both the crime for which they are seeking commutation and the reasons they should be given a second chance. Finally, they must provide a detailed and convincing plan for successful re-entry. But a well-informed volunteer or family member can help most prisoners pull it all together in a few weeks.
For individual advice on the process, prisoners and their loved ones are encouraged to contact either ProSay (hello@weareprosay.org) or WISDOMcommutation@gmail.com. Money should not be a barrier. In fact, ProSay and its affiliate Justice Forward Wisconsin have applied for grant money specifically aimed at reimbursing the costs involved in completing an application. If the work is done by loved ones or volunteers instead of lawyers, the total cost (for the required legal documents plus three photocopies of the whole application plus postage to the Governor’s Office, the DA, and the Clerk of Courts) should be considerably less than $100.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 8, 2026 | Children & Youth, Newsletter
Good News in Brief
This time, we’re telling you some good news that’s happening right here in Dane County. The Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center, which opened in 1995, is demonstrating that healing instead of punishment works with severely troubled kids: violent recidivism is 50% less for kids treated here rather than in traditional juvenile facilities.
The center is staffed by psychologists, not corrections officers, and it’s under the state’s health department, not the Department of Corrections. It was expanded recently to serve more kids and now houses nine girls ages 15-18 and 34 boys. It looks more like a secure high school than a prison, even though it is a secure facility and the kids who are there were deemed too dangerous for the state’s other juvenile facilities. The center plans to expand its capacity to 55 boys by the end of this June.
All of the young people at the center have experienced severe adversity throughout their childhood. This background is clinically referred to as ACE: adverse childhood experiences, and is scored 1-10 based on how extreme the experience was. Most adults have an ACE score of 1 or 2; the majority of kids at the center have a score of at least 7, and for girls it may include trafficking. (Judge Mitchell stated in his May 20 Lunch and Learn speech that trafficking is a significant problem in Dane County.)
The average stay for a young person at the center is six to nine months, though some stay until they turn 18. Expansion at this center is part of the state’s plan to eventually close the two troubled juvenile state prisons, Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake in Lincoln County, and to build newer juvenile prisons elsewhere in the state.
This information was taken from an excellent article by Erin McGroarty in the Cap Times’ June 3, 2026, issue. You can read the full article, which we strongly recommend, at captimes.com.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 8, 2026 | MOSES in the Media, Newsletter, Organizations and Alliances, Reviews
Good Sources for News About MOSES Issues
By Sherry Reames
Wisconsin Watch describes itself as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to using journalism to make the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected” and emphasizes its rigorous fact-checking and its civic mission: “to hold power accountable.” The organization’s online newsletter, Wisconsin Weekly, collects stories from all over the state, with an emphasis on public policy decisions and their effects on our communities. The archive is easy to search for past stories. With a news bureau focused specifically on the Capitol, Wisconsin Watch provides especially good coverage of state government and politics, including public hearings and candidate forums. Online subscriptions are free, and donations are tax-deductible.
Stories specifically on criminal-justice issues do not appear regularly in the feed from Wisconsin Watch, but when they do appear, they are always well-researched and instructive. Examples so far in 2026 include two articles on responses to the governor’s new commutation program; one on Wisconsin’s prison population that is part of a series; one on a controversial parole decision; and, most recently, one on a new initiative in Milwaukee to improve public safety in high-need neighborhoods by connecting existing violence-intervention programs with wellness services, housing assistance, and job opportunities.
Like Wisconsin Watch, The Wisconsin Examiner is a free, nonprofit, online news source with a Wisconsin focus. Like Wisconsin Watch, it proclaims its civic mission: “Digging Up the Truth in the Badger State.” But the Examiner‘s coverage is much wider than Wisconsin, since it participates in a national network, States Newsroom, and always includes national stories in its feed. And The Examiner makes no pretense of being nonpartisan. In fact, its mission statement explicitly connects it with “Wisconsin’s great progressive tradition”; and its editor, Ruth Conniff (formerly of the Progressive Magazine), writes editorials that regularly adhere to that perspective.
For those of us in MOSES and WISDOM, the main selling point of the Examiner is that it focuses a lot of attention on the criminal-legal system. In fact, it currently has a Criminal Justice Reporting Project, supported by the Public Welfare Foundation, which evidently funds extra coverage of these issues and employs at least one reporter, Frank Zufall, as a Criminal Justice Fellow. So if we are looking for detailed news stories on “our” issues or “our” events, we are most likely to find them in The Examiner. A recent example, dated June 24, is Isiah Holmes’s article about the June 22 WISDOM gubernatorial candidates’ forum. Another example, also dated June 24, is Frank Zufall’s story about opposition to the Department of Corrections’s latest rewrite of the short-term sanctions law. For this story, Zufall got a lot of input from Tom Gilbert of MOSES and JenAnn Bauer of FREE.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 8, 2026 | Events, Newsletter, Organizations and Alliances
Even the weather celebrated Juneteenth on Saturday, June 20, with a mild, sunny day – perfect for a parade and festivities at Penn Park. Members of MOSES joined many organizations and individuals from across the community in a day of remembrance, resilience, and resolve. The parade wound its way along Park Street from the Labor Temple to the park, where the marchers were greeted by a riot of color, sound, and delicious aromas. The day was filled with music, dancing, food, children’s activities, cultural performances, and information from organizations, including MOSES, that focus on the well-being of the Black community.
by MOSES Publications | Jul 8, 2026 | Advocacy, Criminal Legal System, Featured, JPTF Justice & Police TF, Newsletter, Policing
MOSES Acts to Support Police Oversight
By Rachel Kincade
Police oversight in Madison is concentrated in two bodies. One is the Office of the Independent Police Monitor (OIPM), which investigates cases of potential police misconduct, reviews the Madison Police Standard Operating Procedures, looks at statistical data on police practices, and issues reports. The other is the Police Community Oversight Board (PCOB), which hires and supervises the Independent Police Monitor (IPM). MOSES has officially supported police oversight, including by the OIPM and the PCOB, since a Sept. 28, 2025, Leadership Board decision. Since then, we have testified in favor of full funding of these entities and against any attempts to weaken police oversight.
An alder who is no longer with the Madison Common Council presented amendments that would take away the independence of the OIPM and make it a city entity. The Council reduced the OIPM’s already scant budget, shortening the hours of its data analyst (while at the same time the police department hired two more data analysts) and not providing for a case manager. MOSES organized. Members of the Justice System Reform Initiative (JSRI) and the Justice and Policing Task Force (JPTF) came together to work on this issue.
We all met and under William Parke-Sutherland’s leadership created a full history of the PCOB and the OIPM, all the way to what is happening now. We provided members with calls to action. It was very informative, and the presentation of our efforts at the MOSES General Meeting on June 14 went smoothly, with Mary Anglim and Eric Howland giving the background – how and why this ordinance was formed. They showed the many years it took to get police oversight in place in Madison.
Eric also covered the OIPM’s budget and how it has steadily been cut. Jeanie Vershay and I talked about where things are at now, starting with December 2025, when the PCOB hired a new interim Independent Police Monitor (IPM), Aeiramique (Meeka) Glass, an experienced police monitor who has brought new life to Madison police oversight. Recent publications from the OIPM, starting with two statistical studies in the annual report and now two high-profile investigative reports on police cases, have challenged Madison’s views of its police department and have also brought criticism of police oversight. (I was on the PCOB for its first four years, and in my opinion, Aeiramique Glass is doing her job in a powerful way, doing exactly what the original ordinance called for in an extremely effective fashion.)
William concluded our presentation at the June General Meeting by talking about the ordinance changes and the need to support the PCOB and the OIPM. He acknowledged that Madison has the best ordinance in the nation, because it holds the superpower of subpoena. Kathy Luker was scheduled to share how to get congregations involved, but her presentation had to be postponed due to time constraints.
A call to action came out on short notice recently, asking MOSES members to attend and speak at a full board meeting of the PCOB. Our President made a statement of MOSES’s support; Eric spoke passionately about the power the police have and the need for a fully funded OIPM. I asked them to just hire Aeiramique Glass as the permanent IPM. Barbie supported the ordinance. Jeanie summed it all up by talking about the death of Richard Lee Johnson in police custody and stated that this was a call to action.
Other possible calls to action include calling your alder and expressing the need for the original ordinance, and calling the mayor to ask for full funding – at least 1% of the police department’s budget – to bring the OIPM data analyst to full time, hire a case manager, and make more money available for independent counsel.
I’ll leave you with another MOSES Call to Action: MOSES is preparing to testify at the Madison Common Council meeting on Aug. 4. At that meeting, several amendments to the statutes that govern police oversight will be considered. Amendments to weaken police oversight have already been proposed. Where we stand: Make the interim IMP (Glass) permanent, fully fund the OIPM, and keep the original ordinance. Watch for additional details about upcoming MOSES calls to action as we approach Aug. 4.
This is how MOSES takes action!
