by Sherry Reames | May 3, 2026 | Advocacy, Featured, Prisons, Sentencing, WISDOM Old Law
Commutations Campaign Update,
by Sherry Reames
On April 3 (Good Friday) Governor Evers announced the beginning of a new commutation process that will allow some prisoners in Wisconsin to shorten the remainder of their time behind bars. To implement this process, the governor is creating a Commutation Advisory Board, and his office immediately published new application forms and requirements for two kinds of candidates: juvenile lifers (people who received life sentences as teenagers) and people convicted at age 20 or more.
Although the governor’s announcement provided the WISDOM Old Law workgroup with a very happy Easter weekend, it did not mean that our three-year campaign for commutations has reached its goals. We are grateful to have come this far, but no prisoners have actually benefited yet. The governor and his advisors haven’t made the really hard choices yet. Furthermore, their new application process gives prisoners and their advocates an enormous amount of work to do and not much time to do it, since Evers’ term will end in December and the next governor may not choose to keep this little window of opportunity open.
The leader of WISDOM’s campaign, Beverly Walker of MICAH, was working with the governor’s staff long before this announcement to provide them a model application and selection process for commutations, based on the systems used in other states. But they ultimately scrapped her suggestions in favor of a “uniform application process” that closely follows Wisconsin’s existing application process for pardons. They seem not to have realized how much harder it would be for incarcerated applicants to obtain the certified legal documents required for this application (given the DOC’s insistence on shredding original documents and substituting photocopies), answer the questions that require internet searches, and pay for all the necessary photocopying and postage. So Beverly Walker was back on the phone with the governor’s office many times in April, negotiating work-arounds for the most cumbersome requirements. The latest revision of the Commutation requirements can be found on the Resources page of her website,
theintegritycenterwi.org, and under FAQs on the governor’s site.
Since the governor’s office is requiring all commutation applicants to start over, using the new process, Wisconsin advocates for prisoners are now hard at work, trying to help candidates complete their applications, together with the required legal documents and as many supporting materials as possible, and submit all this paperwork to the governor’s office (with copies to the DA and the Clerk of Courts in the county of their conviction) as soon as possible. Leaders of EXPO, the Community, Justice Forward, and other nonprofits are calling for more volunteers to help, and WISDOM Old Law could use more volunteers too. Since the new process opens the door to a much larger population than the Old Law prisoners we originally had in mind, there is likely to be an enormous crush of applicants, all racing to take advantage of this opportunity before it vanishes.
The other big need right now is a public education campaign, trying to preserve the possibility of a second chance for as many deserving candidates as possible. Already politicians have started announcing their opposition to even considering the cases of those convicted of certain kinds of crime. Gov. Evers’ office has ruled out clemency for anyone convicted of a sex crime. Wisconsin Watch has reported that two of the candidates to succeed Evers (Tom Tiffany and Mandela Barnes) would also oppose commutations for anyone convicted of murder. Such blanket exclusions would rule out the possibility of a second chance for many of the people who are serving the longest sentences in our prisons, no matter how completely they have reformed and how much they have accomplished since the time of their crime.
Because stoking fears and prejudices about “violent criminals” often succeeds in political campaigns, those of us who know more should counter such tactics with real-life facts and examples. When members of the Old Law workgroup evaluated the records of potential applicants for commutation, we found that many of the strongest candidates were serving very long sentences for “first-degree intentional homicide,” either alone or as parties to the crime. Very few of their crimes resembled the media image of first-degree murder, however. Instead, at the time of conviction the typical candidate in this group was a teen or very young adult who did not plan to kill anybody but impulsively over-reacted out of anger or fear. Sometimes they were trying to protect themselves or someone else. Some were abuse victims who fought back against their abusers. A few seem to have played only a small part in a crime committed by others. But it was the “tough on crime” 1990s when most of these young folks came to trial, and they were prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Their original judges failed to make allowances for their youth and recognize their potential for redemption, but now we have a rare opportunity to rectify that injustice. Let’s not waste it!
by Sherry Reames | Mar 17, 2025 | Juvenile Justice, Newsletter, Prisons, Racism and Racial Equity, Reviews
Wes Moore, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Random House, 2011
Review by Sherry Reames
Wes Moore was not yet governor of Maryland when he wrote this book, but his career was clearly full of promise. In the decade since his college graduation, he had won a Rhodes Scholarship for further study at Oxford, served with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, been chosen as a White House Fellow, and even given one of the speeches at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As he explains in his introduction, the book originated when he learned about another young Black man named Wes Moore, approximately the same age and from a similar neighborhood, who was awaiting trial for murder. Struck by the coincidences, the author started corresponding with “the other Wes” and got his permission to interview people who knew him well and tell their stories side by side. The book begins with this powerful passage:
“This is the story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free and has experienced things that he never even knew to dream about as a kid. The other will spend every day until his death behind bars for an armed robbery that left a police officer and father of five dead. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his. Our stories are obviously specific to our two lives, but I hope they will illuminate the crucial inflection points where our paths diverge and our fates are sealed. It’s unsettling to know how little separates each of us from another life altogether” (p. xi).
As this introduction suggests, the narrative focuses on “inflection points,” with each chapter juxtaposing the experiences of the author (“I”) with those of “Wes” during the most formative years of their young lives. In many ways they start from the same position: fatherless almost from the start (though for very different reasons), being raised by a hard-working single mother who does her best to keep them in school and safe from bad influences in their neighborhoods. But it was the 1980s, and the streets were full of young drug dealers who flaunted their expensive shoes and fine clothes, presenting a huge temptation to kids who desperately wanted to look cool and fit in. Even before their teens, both Wes Moores start getting into trouble – skipping school much of the time, failing their classes, getting into fights, already being picked up by the police. Both mothers make desperate efforts to get them back on the right path, but that proves to be harder than they imagine.
If my summary of the similarities makes these kids’ life stories sound overly predictable, trust me – they’re not! Both narratives are complex, richly detailed, and absorbing. I found myself rooting for the mothers and other relatives who intervened, trying to save these kids, and grieved when the kids made more and more bad choices. I won’t spoil the suspense by explaining what finally saved the successful Wes Moore, except to say that it took a lot more people than his mother to turn him around and start unleashing his potential. Here’s how he puts it in the Epilogue:
“What changed was that I found myself surrounded by people – starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors – who kept pushing me to see more than was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. People who taught me that no accident of birth – not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless – would ever define or limit me. In other words, they helped me to discover what it means to be free” (pp. 179-80).
The trajectory of the other Wes continued to spiral tragically downward, spurred partly by the fact that he left school too early and never found better role models and mentors. But of course it’s not that simple. In a final reflection on his book, added a year after its first publication, the author reflects that he hopes these two stories will encourage other youngsters to think seriously about taking control of their own destinies and will also encourage parents and mentors who are trying to raise kids in hostile environments.
The book was a New York Times best-seller when it came out, and it is still relevant to the needs of today. In an effort to make it even more useful, the paperback edition includes an extensive resource guide, identifying organizations across the country that are working to help young people discover their potential, and discussion questions suitable for classrooms or book groups. If your church or neighborhood is looking for a readable, enlightening book on race, poverty, and juvenile crime in the U.S., this would be a perfect choice.
by Sherry Reames | Mar 17, 2025 | Advocacy, Calls to Action, Events, MOSES activities, Newsletter, WISDOM
Gearing Up for a Big Madison Action Day (Thursday, April 10)
by Sherry Reames
Although Madison Action Day is still a few weeks away, it’s definitely not too early to start
preparing. The essential first step this year may be to shift our focus from discouraging national
news to the relatively hopeful outlook for our issues here in Wisconsin. We have a better partisan balance in our State Legislature than we’ve seen in many years, a large number of new legislators to meet, and a budget proposal from Governor Evers that includes some of WISDOM’s highest priorities, most obviously the closure of the antiquated prison at Green Bay without building a new prison to replace it. So we will have lots to discuss with our legislators and are hoping for an extra-large and enthusiastic turnout.
If you don’t know what to expert, here’s a quick overview of the day’s schedule.
- 9 am– Check-in at Madison Masonic Center, 301 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Madison
- WISDOM program– Brief videos introducing all the WISDOM affiliates, presentation of priority issues by inspiring leaders from around the state, music (including songs by Madison’s own Raging Grannies), and a call to action
- Informal lunch and discussion of plans for the afternoon
- March to the Capitol (for those who can; rides available for those who can’t)
- Small-group visits to legislative offices, probably starting at 1 or 1:30 pm
- Gather at Grace Episcopal Church (across the street from the Capitol) to relax and discuss what we learned
Please spread the word about this event! Let your congregations, neighbors, and friends know that Madison Action Day is a great opportunity for learning, inspiration, meaningful activism, and even some fun, and invite them to join us. Here’s the registration link:
bit.ly/madisonactionday2025 .
Please register as soon as possible, and remind others to do likewise. It’s not crucial to pay immediately, but the WISDOM organizing committee needs everybody’s names and details well ahead of time. Here’s why: besides placing advance orders for everybody’s T-shirts and lunches, the organizing committee has the big job of matching attendees with legislators, trying to make sure that every single senator and assembly rep will have a visit, either from their own constituents or (if necessary) by volunteers from MOSES and other large affiliates.
Please consider participating in the following training opportunities, which are designed to increase the effectiveness of our lobbying efforts this year:
- WISDOM State budget trainings (including one in Madison on Saturday afternoon, March 15, from 1 to 3 pm, location TBA) will include both expert tips on messaging and story-telling and the opportunity to practice these skills.
New this year! An orientation session for Action Day attendees a week before the event (Thursday evening, April 3, probably on zoom from 6 to 7 pm) will help teams of legislative visitors get organized in advance (deciding who will facilitate, who will speak on each issue, etc.), as well as providing more messaging tips and practice.
