by MOSES Publications | Apr 30, 2024 | Advocacy, Newsletter, Prisons
What’s Happening to Parole in Wisconsin?
By Sherry Reames
The figures on the Parole Commission website show a huge recent drop in the number of paroles being granted. Between 2019 and 2022, an average of 167 individuals a year were released on parole. In 2023 the number plummeted to 37 (or 40, if we count those whose cases were heard in 2023 and added on the website in January and February 2024). The number so far in 2024 (as of April 20) is just one.
That is a shocking development, especially at a time when our prisons are dangerously overcrowded as well as understaffed. What in the world is going on?
Some basic points about parole and recidivism
- The only prisoners eligible for parole in Wisconsin are those whose crimes occurred before our 1999 truth-in-sentencing laws went into effect.
- Many of these prisoners were sentenced as juveniles or very young adults under the “tough on crime” policies of the Clinton administration. By now, 25 or 30 years later, they are mature adults. The possibility of parole has given them an incentive to continue their education, acquire job skills, and turn their lives around. If they have used their time in prison well, don’t they deserve a second chance?
- Statistically, mature individuals released on parole are very unlikely to commit another crime.
- According to The Sentencing Project, 20 years is a long enough sentence for most serious crimes. Incarcerating people longer than that may satisfy our desire for retribution, but it doesn’t add to their rehabilitation, and it doesn’t improve public safety.
- WISDOM believes that our state spends far too much money on prisons, money that could better be re-invested in education, child-care, public-health, and crime-prevention programs. As taxpayers, we should object in particular to the unnecessary incarceration of men and women who could be safely out in the community – earning a living, helping to support their families, and contributing to their communities and the workforce.
A year ago, the WISDOM workgroup on Old Law/Parole optimistically believed that the governor might be ready to re-establish the humane Wisconsin tradition of commuting the sentences of some prisoners who had received extreme sentences and served their time exceptionally well. Making such prisoners eligible for parole in the near future seemed like a good idea at that time, but with the parole system apparently frozen, it now sounds like a cruel joke.
WISDOM’s developing response to this setback.
So far, the Parole Commission has been resisting our inquiries, but we hope to have a meeting before long with the current chair, Jon Erpenbach. Our guess is that the Commission may still be reeling from the conservative backlash in 2022 against the attempt to release Douglas Balsewicz, which resulted in the firing of John Tate II and the legislature’s adoption of two new laws in 2023, Acts 31 and 230, which add further requirements to the parole process.
Besides trying to meet with Erpenbach, the Old Law/Parole workgroup is planning a community forum specifically focused on parole and commutation, probably to be held in Milwaukee in early June. Our goal is to create more public awareness of how the parole process is supposed to work, the advantages of enabling prisoners to earn a second chance by this means, and the unnecessary suffering we inflict on both incarcerated people and their families when we forget about their humanity and focus only on the victims of crime. Three MOSES members are already involved in this effort (Amanda Johnson, Kay Stevens, and I), and it would be wonderful to have many other participants from this part of the state. Please watch for future announcements about the forum. Plan to join us if you can, and bring some of your neighbors!
by mosesmadison | Sep 19, 2014 | Resources
In Wisconsin, more than 2,800 men and women remain incarcerated, even though they are legally eligible for parole under the terms of their original sentences. Their continued incarceration costs the state more than 96 million each year. All of these inmates were sentenced prior to the enactment of the Truth In Sentencing legislation. Consequently, many were given longer sentences with the expectation that they could be released after 25 percent of their time had been served. At this point in time, many have completed their required programs, have solid release plans, have all been incarcerated for more than 25 percent of their sentence, and many even work in the community with little to no daily supervision. Still, they are continually told that their release would impose an unreasonable risk to the public and that they have not served enough time. It is time for the Governor, the Department of the Corrections, and the Parole Commission to fix this broken, ineffective, and very expensive system, allowing these men and women to return to their families and become productive members of our society.
by mosesmadison | Jan 4, 2014 | Advocacy
WISDOM leaders met with Governor Walker’s Office
About 100 WISDOM leaders from across Wisconsin and allied groups held a rally and press conference at grace
Episcopal Church in Madison. Following this meeting the group headed over to meet with Governor Walker’s office.
The meting with the Governor’s office was regarding Old Law prisoners. The Old Law refers to men and women that were sentenced under policies that expected prisoners to demonstrate good behavior and complete program conditions to earn an early release. When the new Truth in Sentencing policy came into effect, law mandated that time sentenced equal time served and time being incarcerated was adjusted to reflect this policy. It is estimated that there are thousands of men and women that are stuck between these two policies that have no way to earn release through parole.
A delegation of 8 WISDOM leaders including Christian, Muslim, and Islamic religious leaders met for an hour with Waylon Hurlburt the Senior Policy Analyst to the governor. Hurlburt said the Governor had not known about this issue but added that Walker has interest and has promised a meeting before the end of January to consider and respond to our asks to:
- Review the cases of each prisoner that was sentenced under the Old Law
- Direct the Parole Commission and the Department of Corrections to work together to create a path to parole for these men and women
- Call for a study and issue a public report to offer transparency to the number of prisoners this would impact and how the issue would be resolved
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call Governor Walker’s office and thank him for the meeting and let him know that you look forward to a positive response in the meeting with WISDOM next month. Governor Walker’s phone number is (608) 266-1212.
by mosesmadison | Dec 11, 2013 | Events
Join members of WISDOM and MOSES on the steps of Grace Episcopal Church on the square at 1pm on Tuesday, December 17. The group will head to the Governors office to raise this issue. Read on for the press release:
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prisoners in Wisconsin’s state prison system are being held far beyond the time their sentencing judge envisioned. Nearly all people sentenced to prison before the advent of “Truth In Sentencing” on January 1, 2000 are eligible for parole. But, parole is now only rarely granted. Many who have been in prison for fifteen, twenty, or more years have done everything possible to comply with the conditions for their release, yet have encountered a system that makes their release impossible.
The WISDOM 11×15 Campaign
will hold a rally and press event
December 17, at 1:00 pm at
Grace Episcopal Church
116 W. Washington Ave, Madison.
Immediately following the rally, the group will proceed to the Governor’s office to call on him to direct the Department of Corrections and the Parole Commission to enforce the law as it was intended when these men and women were sentenced. They will further call upon him to launch an investigation and provide a public report about how many people eligible for parole are in the state prison system, and what the prospects are for their earned release.
The rally will include statements by family members of prisoners who have been caught in the bureaucratic nightmare. Others will address the issue from the perspective of the faith community, and community safety.
“We are still not even sure of how many inmates, sentenced under the “Old Law” are eligible for parole. Every one of them deserves at least a chance to comply with the plans drawn up by the parole board,” says WISDOM President Sandy Milligan. “As a faith community, we will not accept that human beings can just be forgotten and lost in the maze of a bureaucracy. As citizens, we expect our government institutions, including the prison system, to be accountable and to be transparent about their plans for these men and women”
“Many of these are people who have already spent more than half their lives in prison. When the judge sentenced them, she or he assumed that if they worked hard in prison to straighten their lives out, they would get a chance to earn their release. A lot of them have kept their end of the bargain, yet they are being held in prison because of politics and bureaucratic bungling, and it is costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year,” says Rev. Jerry Hancock of the Madison-based Prison Ministry Project.
Rev. Joe Ellwanger of Milwaukee sees it as a waste. “We’re wasting money and we’re wasting lives. It’s inhumane to keep some people year after year, long after any useful purpose is served by their incarceration, and when there is no legal reason to keep them. To add injury to insult, Wisconsin taxpayers are paying $30,000 to $40,000 for each of them every year. Imagine if we put that money to good use!”
For further information, or to arrange to interview WISDOM leaders and/or family members of “old law” prisoners, please contact David Liners at 414-736-2099, or atdavid.liners1@gmail.com.
WISDOM is a network of faith-based community organizations in the state of Wisconsin. It includes more than 150 congregations of 19 different faith traditions. WISDOM leads the “11×15 Campaign for Safer, Healthier Communities.” The 11×15 Campaign draws its name from its belief that Wisconsin could safely reduce its prison population by half – to 11,000 – by the end of 2015. For more information, please see www.prayforjusticeinwi.org.
Attached is the statement 11×15 leaders intend to deliver to Governor Walker on December 17.
