Madison Organizing in Strength, Equity, and Solidarity
for Criminal Legal System Reform

News and Commentary

This page displays timely announcements, news reports, and articles written by MOSES members previously published in our newsletters, yearbook, or venues. The main display shows all items with the most recent first. You can select particular topics, working groups, or types of information to see the articles of one type, with the most recent first. Also see the Publications & Resources page for links to whole newsletters and yearbooks as well as other resources for research.

Member Congregation hosts JustDane Reentry Simulation

by | Jun 4, 2026 |

Member Congregation hosts JustDane Reentry Simulation By Pam Gates   The MOSES member congregation that I belong to, Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, received a very nice donation from the family of a founding couple after their passing. To best use the money, the Prairie board decided that committees could request funding for special projects, and the board would evaluate and select those to fund.   Three social action committee members, including the two co-chairs (I’m one...

Black Officers Share Their Thoughts on Policing

by | May 4, 2026 | , ,

Black Officers Share Their Thoughts on Policing A Black History Month Event By Pam Gates and Sherry Reames   A proud, sometimes emotional panel of Black law-enforcement officers from the Dane County Sheriff's Office and the Madison Police Department answered questions posed by moderator Shar-Ron Buie at a Black History Month event on Feb. 19. The event, spearheaded by the Madison Community Policing Foundation and called "Journey into Policing," enabled attendees to learn about the varied...

Criminal Justice Workshop at Bethel Lutheran April 23

by | May 4, 2026 | , , ,

Criminal Justice Workshop at Bethel Lutheran April 23 Kalvin Barrett, Dennis Franklin, Dana Pellebon, Paul Saeman Share Perspectives  By Pam Gates   Among the events at a one-day conference titled "Nonviolence in Action: An Interfaith Conversation on Building the Beloved Community" was an interesting workshop on Criminal Justice Reform. Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, EXPO Co-Director Dennis Franklin, Rape Crisis Center Executive Director and former Dane County Board supervisor Dana...

Finding and Becoming Allies

by | May 4, 2026 | , , , ,

Finding and Becoming Allies RJAC Working Group Connects with Schools By John Lemke The mission of the MOSES Racial Justice for All Children (RJAC) Task Force is “to eradicate the childhood-to-school-to-prison pipeline”. The members of the Restorative Justice and School Wellness group, a working group within RJAC, are seeking to understand and address that middle stepping stone – what happens in the schools. The group has found allies in this search: teachers, administrators, social workers,...

Organizer’s Corner

by | May 4, 2026 |

Organizer’s Corner: James Morgan Interview by Margaret Irwin   James is working in several areas to help MOSES be a more effective voice for criminal legal system reform in our community and state.   He is planning how best to work with the new UW student group Students Against Mass Incarceration. The training material he’s used in the past needs to be reworked and updated. He’s looking forward to strengthening this link between MOSES and the university.    The reconstituted Fundraising...

Commutations Campaign Update

by | May 3, 2026 | , , , ,

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...

Member Spotlight: Rachel Kincade

by | May 2, 2026 | ,

In 2007, Rachel Kincade received a Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service. The following piece from the McKnight Foundation website describes Rachel’s work in Duluth, Minn., before she moved to Madison.   Sixteen years ago, single mother Rachel Kincade began her outreach to homeless youth with special needs. As the executive director of Life House in Duluth, Rachel now serves 700 low-income and homeless youth annually, ensuring them access to housing, education, and employment...

Review of The Belly of the Beast

by | Apr 24, 2026 | ,

The Belly of the Beast: The Campaign to End Forced Sterilization of Women Prisoners in California A film by Erika Cohn Reviewed by Pam Gates   At its January meeting, the local chapter of FREE – a movement of women whose lives have been affected by incarceration – showed a documentary that exposed a glaring overstep in state control of prisoners’ autonomy: forced sterilization. Women brought to the hospital for gynecological treatment might end up sterilized as well – without their knowledge...

Review of Nice Racism

by | Apr 24, 2026 | , , ,

Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm By Robin DiAngelo, 2021, Beacon Press Books Reviewed by Ken Warren    This book is a follow-up to Robin DiAngelo’s earlier book, White Fragility. In White Fragility, DiAngelo focused on white people in general. In this book she turns her attention specifically to white progressives. As the membership of Moses could easily be considered progressive and is also overwhelmingly white, this is a perfect book for us to read and...

Lunch and Learn May 20: Judge Mitchell on Juvenile Justice

by | Apr 16, 2026 | ,

Support the work of MOSES and learn about juvenile justice from Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell. This Lunch and Learn event will be held on May 20 from 11:30 to 1. Lunch at 11:30 with the program beginning at 12 noon at Lake Edge Lutheran Church 4032 Monona Drive, Madison WI 53716. (Parking is behind the church, off Hegg Drive.) Judge Mitchell was elected to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2016 and serves as a juvenile court judge in Branch Four. He also hears cases involving family...