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.

Justice System Reform Initiative (JSRI) Task Force Very Active in 2025!

by | Jan 17, 2026 | , , , , ,

 JSRI’s priorities for 2025 and beyond. The italicized text describes progress made in 2025. The Crisis/Triage Center is an essential reform that will help keep people out of the criminal-legal system. It will also be an important resource for some individuals when they are having a mental health crisis. Establishing this center has been delayed, due both to a new state administrative rule and to funding issues.   The Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES), a...

Capitol Listening Session 2025

by | Jan 17, 2026 | , ,

On Nov. 12, advocates from WISDOM and affiliated organizations packed a hearing room at the Capitol for a Listening Session on key issues affecting our state. Unusually for those of us in MOSES, this event provided an opportunity to hear not only from those seeking reforms to the criminal-legal system, but also from immigrant families, dairy farmers who employ immigrants, and a representative of the “Rights of Nature” movement about strengthening environmental protection. All agreed on the...

Journey to Justice / Unlock the Box

by | Jan 17, 2026 | , , ,

On Oct. 11 and 12, the nationwide Journey to Justice/Unlock the Box Bus Tour stopped in Madison, providing extraordinary opportunities to learn what solitary confinement is like and what it does to people. Visitors to the bus could lie down on the narrow bunk in a solitary-sized cell, see photographs, read moving letters from prisoners in solitary about the sights they missed most, listen to audio recordings about solitary, and much more. There was simply not enough time to take it all in....

Just Conversation on Discretion in Criminal Justice

by | Jan 17, 2026 | , , , , ,

  On Jan. 17, 2025, JustDane and the Madison Justice Team hosted "A Just Conversation on Discretion, Charging Disparities, and Racial Dynamics in Criminal Justice." This event featured a panel of experts on different aspects of the criminal-legal system, especially as it operates in Dane County.   Detective Sgt. Kenneth Mosley, a member of the Madison Police Department since 2007, emphasized the MPD's efforts to reduce racial disparities in the ways police treat civilians.   UW-Madison...

Message from the President

by | Jan 17, 2026 | ,

  Dear MOSES Family, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your hard work, unwavering support, deep dedication, and steadfast determination. Because of your commitment, we continue to build collective power and move closer to dismantling the unjust systems that harm our communities. As we reflect on this past year, my heart is filled with gratitude, hope, and renewed determination. The journey toward justice is never easy, yet each one of you — members, volunteers, partners,...

MOSES Advocacy for Dane County Budget: 2025 in review

by | Jan 17, 2026 | , , ,

MOSES Advocates to Restore Safety-Net Funding to 2026 Dane County Budget Creating the 2026 Dane County budget was a difficult process. For starters, there was a $31-million deficit, driven by rising expenses -- especially in health care – that bumped up against state-imposed revenue caps. County Executive Melissa Agard requested that all departments take a 4% cut off their base, and all departments complied except the Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Barrett argued that any change to his budget would...

Review of When They Call You a Terrorist

by | Jan 17, 2026 | ,

when they call you a terrorist: a black lives matter memoir By Patrisse Khan-Cullors   Patrisse Khan-Cullors, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, is an outspoken activist fiercely defensive of her people – the people who are living Black lives in America. In this memoir, she paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to grow up Black and poor in America as the War on Drugs rages, what it’s like for your mom to work several jobs to keep a roof over the family and food in their...

MOSES Statement about the Killing of Renee Nicole Good

by | Jan 13, 2026 | , , ,

MOSES supports the advocacy work of our parent organizations, including the WISDOM Immigration Task Force and the Gamaliel Civil Rights of Immigrants Campaign. With gratitude to Pablo Tapia Mendoza, Chair of Gamaliel’s Civil Rights of Immigrants, we borrow from his statement to the Gamaliel Network. Our hearts are broken and our spirits are deeply challenged. On January 7th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on the streets of Minneapolis. The very...

Racial Justice for All Children: 2025 Review

by | Jan 10, 2026 | , , , , , , , , ,

Racial Justice for All Children Task Force Advocates for Children The mission of the Racial Justice for All Children (RJAC) Task Force is to eradicate the childhood-to-school-to-prison pipeline. We seek to further MOSES’s mission — to dismantle the systems of mass incarceration and mass supervision and to eradicate the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them — by interrupting systemic processes that contribute to youth involvement in the juvenile justice system, and by...

Thank You to Our 2025 Supporters

by | Jan 10, 2026 | ,

Underwriters ($1,000+) Mary Anglim* Michael and Rima Apple Phil Carlson* Andrew Dutcher* Pamela Gates* Eric Howland Barbie and Andrew Jackson* Madison Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends John Murphy  Douglas Maynard Lisa Munro and Dick Goldberg* Pamela Oliver Sherry Reames Kevin Lee Williams   Sustainers ($120-$999) Myzell Alexander John Andrews Gregory and Brenda Armstrong Marsha Baldwridge* Patricia Ball* Mary Jo Baumann and Nicholas Glass Colleen Clark-Bernhardt Fawn...