“End the Lockdowns!” Action Draws 200 to State Capitol
By Pam Gates
Over 200 people participated in the WISDOM-sponsored “End the Lockdowns!” action at the state Capitol on Oct. 10. Religious leaders, including the current WISDOM president, loved ones of people being held in the state prisons in question, and formerly incarcerated people spoke passionately in protest of the inhumane conditions in which many Wisconsin prisoners are held. One mother began her testimony by saying: “Had you told me a year ago what I’d be doing today, I’d have laughed at you and gone about my day.” Instead, her 23-year-old son is in prison, battling cancer, not receiving the treatment he needs as well as facing the unhealthy living conditions of the lockdown, and she was at the state Capitol pleading for him and all the others held in indeterminate lockdown.
Some read letters from prison residents describing sharing living space with birds, rats, and bats. Charles, an African American father whose son is at Waupun, urged, “Shut it down!”, which was taken up by the crowd.
October 2023 Protest Against Lockdowns
Eugene Johnson spoke of crimeless revocation — being sent back to prison for breaking a probation or parole rule. His infraction was cutting hair, he said incredulously – and he’s a licensed barber! Eliminating crimeless revocation would reduce the prison population by thousands.
Sherry Reames spoke of the hundreds of aging, completely rehabilitated prisoners who could be safely released on parole or compassionate grounds. After all, one of Evers’s campaign promises was to reduce Wisconsin’s prison population by half; what restrains him from acting now? And what’s going on with the parole system? Despite the current emergency, only 4% of parole applications have been granted so far in 2023, by far the lowest number in recent years.
In other words, Wisconsin’ prison population can easily be reduced enough to relieve the overcrowding and understaffing that are used as excuses for the lockdown, if we can find the political will to do so.
After the rally, family members of incarcerated persons, accompanied by clergy, went to speak with legislators to further their case. Others from the rally also met with legislators, also to request that the lockdown be ended. In all, we made over 100 legislative visits to demand that Gov. Evers, the state Legislature, and the state Department of Corrections take action to end the humanitarian crisis inside Wisconsin’s prisons.
Four other delegates and I, most of us from MOSES, met with George, an aide of Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison. He said that Sen. Roys was working on a bill to improve conditions specifically at the state prison near Stanley. Deanna Grahn and I then met with aides of Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, who told us that Rep. Billings is definitely on board with our concerns. Kelly Kearns, another delegate from the rally, met with Rep. Karen Hurd, R-Fall Creek. She felt that Rep. Hurd might be open to working with Sen. Roys on her bill about prison conditions, which would make it a bipartisan bill. When we spoke with Roys’s staff, our delegation urged them to reach across the aisle; this is, after all, a humanitarian issue involving fellow citizens of the state of Wisconsin.
What’s Next: Reps. Ryan Clancy and Darrin Madison, both D-Milwaukee, planned to introduce legislation addressing some of our concerns at a press conference on Oct. 24, which was after this newsletter’s press time. Mark Rice, coordinator of the Transformational Justice Campaign, invited people interested in planning the next steps of this campaign to WISDOM’s Solitary and Conditions of Confinement task force meeting via Zoom on Oct. 18.