DeAnna Hoskins and Vincent Schiraldi: Wisconsin must close Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility to reform criminal justice
News
The Cap Times
January 28, 2019

“In the late 1990s the Wisconsin Legislature enacted Truth in Sentencing and parole expansion laws that lengthened incarceration sentences and mandated unnecessarily lengthy terms of post-prison supervision, causing the state’s incarcerated and supervised population to skyrocket. The laws were part of the “tough on crime” wave that was sweeping the country, presented by policymakers and defended by media as a way to curb crime. The policies sent so many people to prison and supervision that Wisconsin’s prison system is now 140 percent over capacity and has cost taxpayers $1.8 billion — more than is spent on the state university system — and, as of 2016, the state had nearly 65,000 people — about the population of Oshkosh — on probation or parole supervision. Now the problem is growing worse.”

“Review Article”

 

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