More Out -of-control Republican Spending and General Lack of Empathy

Gov. Scott Walker has ended the early-release program in Wisconsin.  This comes at a time when Wisconsin prisons are at 120% capacity.

"This is one of those cases where we're keeping the worst of the worst in the state prisons," Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer said, the Leader-Telegram of Eau Claire reported.


Did the "worst of the worst" criminals qualify for the early-release program?  According to the bill signed in 2009, inmates who qualified were:

• Serving time for a misdemeanor or a Class F to I felony that is not a violent offense [as defined in s. 301.048 (2) (bm) 1.] may earn one day of positive adjustment time for each two days of good behavior. Disqualifying violent crimes include offenses such as homicide, sexual assault, and robbery. In addition, an inmate must not be a registered sex offender or have committed other specified serious crimes, and must not have been found ineligible for positive adjustment time
• Certain elderly and terminally ill inmates were previously allowed (2001 Wisconsin Act 109) to petition for early release. Act 28 expands eligibility to certain inmates serving life sentences, and inmates may now request early release based on an “extraordinary health condition,” defined as advanced age, infirmity, or disability or a need for medical treatment or services not available within the correctional institution. To be eligible due to age, an inmate must be at least 65 years old and have served at least 5 years in prison, or at least 60 years of age and completed at least 10 years. Another petition may not be filed within one year after ERRC denial.
• It was also possible to build up enough points for good behavior and earn early release

Total Inmate Population Projections: 2010-2020

The Department of Corrections is expected to experience an overall 16% increase in the incarcerated population over the next decade from the current population of 22,911 to the projected population of 26,675 in the year 2020 as seen in Table 1.

Table 1. Projected Inmate Populations: 2010 - 2020

Year As of July 1	Male Population	Female Population	Total Population	% Change From Prior Year
2010	22,211	1,434	23,645	1.4%
2011	22,553	1,434	23,987	1.4%
2012	22,893	1,436	24,329	1.4%
2013	23,224	1,454	24,678	1.4%
2014	23,540	1,471	25,011	1.3%
2015	23,841	1,487	25,328	1.3%
2016	24,128	1,504	25,632	1.2%
2017	24,403	1,521	25,924	1.1%
2018	24,657	1,539	26,196	1.0%
2019	24,891	1,555	26,446	1.0%
2020	25,105	1,570	26,675	.9%

Throughout history, the ability to predict human behavior, and certainly inmate populations, has presented significant challenges for correctional agencies across the country. To a significant extent, inmate population levels are influenced by unpredictable factors, including: legislative policies, such as Truth in Sentencing; crime rates; arrests and criminal prosecutions; public fears of increased victimization; and failure of offenders to successfully complete community based programs and supervision, to name a few. Conversely, once offenders enter the correctional system, whether as inmates or on probation supervision, it is realistic, in part, that prison diversion or population reduction programs, for appropriate offenders, will impact population management and the future demand for secure confinement capacity.

The human and fiscal impacts of incarceration have become staggering. In Wisconsin, incarceration is costly: the average annual incarceration cost in a maximum security facility in 2007 was $35,039 per prisoner; in a medium security facility was $26,508 per prisoner; and in a minimum security center was $30,794. The juvenile correctional institution daily rate in 2007 was $209, or $76,285 on an annual basis. These costs associated with operating institutional programs contribute to a Wisconsin Department of Corrections budget of more than $1 billion per year.

In the 1990s the Wisconsin prison population increased dramatically and had tripled by the year 2000. Drug and alcohol offenders accounted for a significant growth in the incarcerated population. In fact, drug offenders accounted for more than twenty percent of the growth from 1996 to 2006, and drug and operating while intoxicated offenders were responsible for more than sixty percent of the growth from 2001 to 2006. During that time, the state was building or opening a new prison on average, every two years. Just eight years ago, the state led the country in the number of inmates that were housed in out-of state facilities, peaking at almost 5000.

By 2005, all of the inmates had been returned to occupy newly created prison capacity and county jails in Wisconsin. In 1990, the Wisconsin year end prison population numbered 7,554; at the conclusion of 2007, the number had increased to 22,690 incarcerated adults. The inclusion of offenders on probation and parole supervision and juveniles being served in the institutions and community represented in excess of 95,000 individuals under the custody or supervision of the Department of Corrections; a trend that appears to be continuing. The sheer volume of offenders underscores the challenges facing the Department of Corrections in the next decade.

Gov. Walker and those that support this decision are wrong on incarceration.  Locking up non-violent offenders with violent offenders only exacerbates criminal behaviors hence the high recidivism rates.  Another reason for high recidivism is that when prisoners are released they have to deal with egomaniacs like Walker.