Democrats in the Legislature are pushing for a package of legislation that seeks to improve conditions in Wisconsin prisons amid ongoing lockdowns and troubling conditions at some facilities.
The legislation includes measures that would put restrictions on lockdowns and solitary confinement while increasing data collection and making facility improvements.
At a news conference at the state Capitol on Thursday, Democrats conceded that some of the measures were like putting a “Band-Aid on a bullet wound” and called for broader reforms to end what they called mass incarceration in Wisconsin.
Green Bay Correctional Institution has placed prisoners on lengthy lockdowns over a lack of staffing.
From 2019 to 2021, the state had the highest incarceration rates for Black people in the United States, and it spends the most per capita on prisons compared with bordering states, according to a recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
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“This is not the solution to mass incarceration. This is harm reduction,” Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, said of the package of 15 bills. “The data is incredibly clear: When we are less cruel to people we incarcerate, those folks are less likely to be incarcerated in the future.”
In recent weeks, The New York Times and Wisconsin State Journal have detailed conditions at Waupun Correctional Institution and Green Bay Correctional Institution, which have seen months-long lockdowns that largely confine inmates to their cells all day with limited showers, recreation and programming.
The conditions have led to legal issues for the state, too. Last month, 10 Waupun inmates sued the Department of Corrections in federal court over conditions at the prison under a lockdown that began in March.
To address those conditions, Democrats want inmates in state and county facilities to get up to four showers a week, raise their minimum wage from the current 0 to 40 cents an hour to $2.33, and give those in solitary confinement more visitation and hygiene items.
On the facilities side, other bills would update HVAC systems in state prisons to maintain temperatures between 68 and 76 degrees and allow more engagement with the outdoors through recreation and transparent windows.
Democrats said they’ve been working with the Department of Corrections on the package, seeing support on some items and pushback on others. Talks with DOC led to about five bills getting removed from the package, Clancy said.
No Republicans have publicly backed the package yet. Some Republicans have expressed interest for years in closing the Green Bay prison and potentially Waupun, and building a modern prison to relocate prisoners.
Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, chair of the state Assembly’s corrections committee, did not immediately return a request for comment on the bills.
A group of activists and former inmates spoke in support of the package on Thursday. Talib Akbar, who spent nearly two decades in state prison, said that “everything these bills talk about I can identify with.”
Since getting released, Akbar has traveled the state with a model of a solitary confinement cell to raise awareness about the practice in Wisconsin’s prisons.
“The lockdown has been going on for seven months,” Akbar said, referring to Waupun’s lockdown, which began in March. “People are being tortured.”
Today in history: Nov. 2
1947: Howard Hughes
In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (derisively dubbed the “Spruce Goose” by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
1963: South Vietnam
In 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem (noh ding ZEE’-em) was assassinated in a military coup.
1976: Jimmy Carter
In 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South since the Civil War to be elected president as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.
1994: Paul Hill
In 1994, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, convicted Paul Hill of murder for the shotgun slayings of an abortion provider and his escort; Hill was executed in September 2003.
2000: The International Space Station
In 2000, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko (gihd-ZEENG’-koh) and Sergei Krikalev (SUR’-gay KREE’-kuh-lev), became the first residents of the international space station.
2003: Iraq
In 2003, in Iraq, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of U.S. soldiers, killing 16.
2003: V. Gene Robinson
In 2003, in Durham, New Hampshire, V. Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
2004: George W. Bush
In 2004, President George W. Bush was elected to a second term as Republicans strengthened their grip on Congress.
2007: Meredith Kercher
In 2007, British college student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found slain in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy; her roommate, American Amanda Knox and Knox’s Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito (rah-fy-EHL’-ay soh-LEH’-chee-toh), were convicted of killing Kercher, but both were later exonerated. (Rudy Guede (GAY’-day), a petty criminal who was convicted separately in the case, is serving a 16-year sentence.)
2016: The Chicago Cubs
Five years ago: Ending a championship drought that had lasted since 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in extra innings.
2020: Presidential Campaign
One year ago: In the closing hours of the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump charged across the nation delivering an incendiary but false allegation that the election was rigged, while Democrat Joe Biden pushed to claim states that were once seen as safely Republican.
2022: CVS and Walgreens
In 2022, the two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS Health and Walgreen Co., announced agreements in principle to pay about $5 billion each to settle lawsuits nationwide over the toll of opioids.
No Republicans have yet publicly backed the package of legislation.
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