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.
Film Review: The 50
Film Review: The 50 Is Changing Lives By Margaret Irwin The 50 is the story – set in California – of a unique way to give incarcerated people a second chance: by training them to become addiction counselors. In March, EXPO sponsored a showing of this documentary at the Urban League’s handsome new Black Business Hub on South Park Street. In 2006, the federal government decreed that California must reduce its prison population by 50,000 to relieve overcrowding. At that time, more than...
Middleton Community Church UCC
Featuring a New MOSES Member: Middleton Community Church UCC By Margaret Irwin Middleton Community Church United Church of Christ (referred to hereafter as MCC) was founded in 1936 by 34 people who wanted a Sunday school for children in the area whose families were not members of the existing Lutheran or Catholic congregations. It has been known ever since as “a church home for those who do not have a home,” welcoming people from a variety of religious backgrounds. As the church grew in...
Life After Prison: JustDane’s Returning Prisoner Simulation
Life After Prison: A Few Hours with JustDane’s Returning Prisoner Simulation By Katie Mulligan Walk a mile in someone’s shoes before you render judgment. I had a chance to follow that familiar advice last December. The occasion was a simulation program of what it is like for a person leaving prison and trying to survive in the outside world. JustDane, a criminal-justice organization, offered this program, in which each attendee adopted the persona of a newly released prisoner who struggles to...
Meet MOSES President Saundra Brown
Meet MOSES President Saundra Brown By Pam Gates Saundra Brown became MOSES president at the beginning of 2024. She has a strong vision on how to strengthen MOSES and next steps to move it forward. She recently shared her visions and goals with the MOSES newsletter team. Frequent one-on-ones between MOSES members are important! “We’re not communicating with one another enough,” Saundra says. “I want to put an emphasis on one-on-ones. You can’t have too many. Even if you’ve done one with...
Review of Lyn McDonald Taking Action for Social Justice Through the FAST Program
Taking Action for Social Justice Through the FAST Program: A Memoir by a Social Worker By Dr. Lynn McDonald, Founder of FAST, 2023 Reviewed by Pam Gates Dr. Lynn McDonald is a Madison resident and social worker who in 1998 established a program called Families and Schools Together, or FAST. The purpose of FAST is to establish and strengthen bonds between schools and families, between parents and their children, and among the parents in the program. The long-term goal that gets most schools...
Criminal-Legal Reform Efforts in the Wisconsin Legislature, 2023-2024
Criminal-Legal Reform Efforts in the Wisconsin Legislature, 2023-2024 By Sherry Reames Looking through the detailed records of this session on the legislature’s official website (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023), I found some notable setbacks for the cause of criminal-legal reform, but also many reasons to feel encouraged. First, the bad news. At least two regressive bills were passed and signed into law this spring, despite the efforts of WISDOM and its allies. 2023 Act...
Wisconsin Hears that Solitary Confinement Is Torture
Wisconsin Hears that Solitary Confinement Is Torture By Pam Gates The North Hearing Room in the state Capitol was packed on April 23 to hear a powerful series of speakers on the inhumane practice of solitary confinement in Wisconsin prisons and jails. Among the 70-plus listeners were five legislators and about twice that many aides; on the panel were six people who had spent time in solitary, four clergy, and a woman who had recently lost her father to suicide in solitary. ...
Community Forum Calls for Ending the Lockdowns and Justice Reinvestment
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....
School Safety Forum
RJAC and PSTF Gather for School Safety By Shel Gross The Racial Justice for All Children (RJAC) task force, in collaboration with the Public Safety task force (PSTF), hosted a MOSES-wide gathering about school safety on Jan. 23 via Zoom. We had 39 attendees, including 18 members of RJAC and/or the PSTF, 10 additional MOSES members, two MOSES donors, and nine guests and/or collaborators. Eric Howland and Shel Gross led a Quaker-style query process that was very well received. Participants...
WISDOM Leadership Retreat Held Jan. 17-18
WISDOM Leadership Retreat Held Jan. 17-18 by Pam Gates MOSES members turned out in force for this retreat, which was held at the Green Lake Conference Center near Green Lake, Wis. Deborah Adkins, Talib Akbar, Saundra Brown, Phil Carlson, Barbie Jackson, Jessica Jacobs, Rachel Kincade, James Morgan, and I attended from MOSES. Along with other WISDOM members from around the state, we learned more about diversity, Integrated Voter Engagement, and each other – and about the specific issues...