Community Forum Calls for Ending the Lockdowns and Justice Reinvestment
by Sherry Reames
This community forum, organized by WISDOM, EXPO, and MOSES, drew a large and attentive audience to Madison’s First Unitarian Society on Feb. 1. Longtime Madison journalist Gil Halstead emceed the discussion, which included testimonies on the current prison crisis from the perspectives of formerly incarcerated people, relatives of current prisoners, and state legislators from the Madison area.
The evening began with updates on the problem from James Wilbur, outgoing director of prison outreach for WISDOM. In contradiction to press releases from Gov. Evers and DOC Secretary Carr, Wilbur confirmed from witnesses inside Waupun and Green Bay Correctional Institutions that there have been no substantial changes to the inhumane conditions reported last fall. The buildings are filthy and infested with rodents, prisoners are still locked in their cells nearly all the time, and even needed medical care is not being provided. No change will come, he concluded, until the responsible authorities are held accountable.
Mark Rice, coordinator of WISDOM’s Transformational Justice Campaign, outlined the measures that can and should be taken to reform the system – starting with practical steps to reduce the prison population. These steps include expanding TAD (Treatment Alternatives and Diversions) to include people who just need mental health treatment, abolishing crimeless revocations (a system the DOC controls and could end unilaterally, ending thousands of unnecessary imprisonments), increasing the use of earned release and parole, and using the governor’s clemency power to commute excessively long sentences. Some of these remedies would require legislative action, but others are completely within the governor’s control. It is worth remembering that Gov. Evers said during his 2018 campaign that he supported the swift closing of at least two prisons (Green Bay and Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility). That still needs to happen; and when it does, the state will save a great deal of money, which should be reinvested in education, mental health, and other services to rebuild the communities most affected by crime.
The two Madison legislators on the panel emphasized their own commitment to criminal-justice reform but also noted that change will not come quickly. They both know the criminal-legal system well. State Sen. Kelda Roys, who worked with The Innocence Project and visited some Wisconsin prisons as a law student, noted the deep racial injustice in the system and said current practice actually makes us less safe by focusing on harsh punishment instead of rehabilitation. Rep. Shelia Stubbs previously worked as a probation officer and as a social worker focusing on domestic violence cases. Given her experience with the obstacles to successful re-entry, she suggested that plans for release should start as soon as an individual enters prison, not just before the end. Both legislators have signed on as co-sponsors to several new bills to improve conditions of confinement. Realistically, they explained, we need to start with small steps in order to get any win out of the Legislature.
Some of the most dramatic testimony at the forum came from people whose incarcerated family members have been abused by prison staff. Kerrie Hirte’s 20-year-old daughter died in the Milwaukee County Jail last year when, despite being on suicide watch, she choked to death on an item the guards had given her. Another parent reported that her son at Waupun became suicidal after guards pepper-sprayed him for talking back, then tased him for resisting, stripped him naked, and sent him to solitary confinement, where he was told that nobody would care if he died. Another mother said her son was deemed dangerous and locked up after attempting “suicide by cop” and being shot nine times. When his physical condition deteriorated, the nurse suggested Tylenol; and the DOC didn’t notify his family even when he became septic, nearly died, and spent a month in the hospital.
Other attendees shared signs of hope and suggestions for reforming the system. Eugene Nelson from Project Return in Milwaukee mentioned his own achievements since release and urged us all to keep visiting and calling the legislators on the other side. He held up the example of Illinois, which has just passed sweeping legislation on crimeless revocation. Corey Marionneaux briefly described his own experience with revocation and his current work as founder of the Black Men Coalition here in Dane County. Tom Gilbert of MOSES told us about the Short Term Sanctions Bill (Act 196) passed in 2013, a law that should have increased the alternatives to revocation but has never been implemented by the DOC. MOSES Community Organizer James Morgan reminded us that the whole culture of the DOC needs to be addressed. Administrative law judges have too much unsupervised power, and the youth correctional institutions need to be addressed as well as the adult ones.
The strongest take-away message from the evening was to not give up: keep lobbying for the changes we want to see, remember to vote, and do what we can to turn out the vote in this election year. Sen. Melissa Agard, outgoing Wisconsin Senate minority leader, pointed out that change is almost certainly coming to our Legislature. Once new district lines are determined, legislators will have to run in more competitive districts and build more coalitions across party lines. Sen. Roys noted that some current Republican legislators are already willing to work across the aisle, co-sponsoring some moderate bills for reform. Rep. Stubbs reminded us that it’s important to keep applying pressure to the Governor’s Office and the DOC as well. Mike Carlson of MOSES suggested that we take Michigan as a role model: they have turned their government around, and so can we.