Judge Everett Mitchell Wows Audience at MOSES Lunch and Learn
Justice for Dane County kids is his passion
By Pam Gates
On May 20, The Honorable Judge Everett Mitchell gave an impassioned speech about his work for juvenile justice to a rapt audience of about 80. The event was a MOSES-sponsored Lunch and Learn fundraiser at Lake Edge Lutheran Church, with an excellent lunch provided by Melly Mel’s Deli and Catering. In addition to being inspirational and motivational, the event was practical: it cleared an unprecedented $5,000 for MOSES!
Mitchell said his position as an elected official – he is a Dane County Circuit Court judge – brings a vulnerability: He can become a target for those who disagree with his approach. Nevertheless, Mitchell works courageously to “create a system to fight other systems.” The system he fights was established by Chapter 48 in the state statutes, which he urged us to read and study. If we’re really committed to change, he said, we have to understand the system; the real pipeline, he said, is child welfare to juvenile delinquency to adult prison. Chapter 48 feeds the pain and trauma of that pipeline.
The child-welfare system removes kids from their home if there are certain lacks or certain problems, such as drug addiction. But treatment, which can help parents keep their children, may well not be available on a timely basis. Parents are given 15 months to get themselves together – 15 months to deal with perhaps a host of problems: generational trauma, mental health issues, addictions, lack of housing, illiteracy. Dane County doesn’t offer enough services or partnerships to help these people deal with such severe issues. “By kindergarten, it’s almost over,” Mitchell said; if children have experienced such extensive devastation in early childhood, their prognosis is bleak.
In Wisconsin, a child as young as 10 can be charged in adult court. A 14-year-old can be waived into adult court, and for 17-year-olds adult court is automatic. Mitchell, like MOSES, knows that kids can’t really comprehend what is going on in the courts; he says the juvenile court system is a cruel mimic of the adult system.
How do we get services in place? It costs $1,254/day to incarcerate one child, almost $500,000/year! Half a million! For one child! We prefer, Mitchell said, to have that money spent on incarceration rather than on, say, schools. “We don’t incarcerate as many as we used to since I’ve been here,” he declared.
“Before I sentence a child to prison, I take my time.”
He told the story of a youngster, barely 16 years old, who was on a GPS bracelet. Mitchell was told the child was not cooperating with the GPS and should be sent to prison. He delved into the case and found that the youngster was the father of two children, both by 23-year-old women; that he was unhoused; and that he was illiterate. For starters, had this youngster been 23 and the women 16, he would have been charged with statutory rape. Next, being unhoused made it impossible for him to be in a predictable place to satisfy the GPS. And – he couldn’t read or comprehend what was required of him to stay out of prison.
“We need to reestablish a better system,” Mitchell said. “The current system does what it’s supposed to do. My vision is a family system. The parents need parents, too. I’ve never met a bad child.”
“You know how to behave,” he told us, “because somebody invested time in you. We need to recreate family systems, build empathy. We need to tell kids, ‘I’m sorry.’ We need to protect them and demand accountability. Kids love boundaries. They need to understand consequences.”
The Madison school district’s Office of Youth Engagement is a good resource; it offers culturally relevant service providers in real time. One change Mitchell has been able to make in Wisconsin is forbidding handcuffs on kids in court.
There is lots of sex trafficking in Dane County, Mitchell told us. Kids are extremely vulnerable. It’s important to tell kids: “You’re not invisible. I see you, and I’m there for you.” Mitchell told stories making it clear that he sees the kids and is there for them. “I’ve been fighting all my life to get where I am now,” he said.
There’s a beauty in what we do in MOSES, he declared, and he urged this mostly older audience to engage in the fight for Dane County’s most vulnerable kids. Most of us were too old to become foster parents, but we could sign up for CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) and become trained community volunteers whom a judge could appoint to advocate for a child in the system. “Do not follow the path that has been given,” he urged. “Give babies a chance.”
In response to a question from MOSES member Eric Howland, Mitchell spoke very positively of the drug-court program as an opportunity for treatment with a whole support team. The drug court builds a sense in youth that their sobriety matters. It’s so important to give people the treatment that they need, he said. He added that most people who participate in drug court are white. Blacks get labeled dealers, which means they can’t participate in drug court. We need more treatment courts to give people a different path. We don’t need to put a nail into a heart that’s already been broken.
The super-predator myth has been debunked, he said, adding that he’s not alone in his advocacy for kids in the system.
Q: How many kids are in the system in Dane County?
A: Hundreds: in Deferred Prosecution, in foster homes, in different states because the right facilities aren’t available for them here.
Q: What about appropriate services in Dane County?
A: We’re at the height of a heroin-fentanyl epidemic. We need to leverage mental health treatment and kinship care and build a coherent platform.
Mitchell invited MOSES to learn about the ATTA Program, an alternative to youth incarceration. ATTA stands for Assessment, Treatment, Transition, and Aftercare. Reach out to him to tour Dane County’s Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center, which is headed by Juvenile Court Administrator Ed Pearson. We’re working around the system, Mitchell said. Kids shouldn’t have sentences longer than 12 months, and they shouldn’t be sent off to some other state for appropriate services.
MOSES Organizer James Morgan expressed appreciation from all of us for Mitchell’s presentation of the realities for kids caught in the system in Dane County. As he made very clear, Judge Mitchell is fighting for these Dane County kids with courage and commitment.