Members of the #CloseMSDF coalition standing outside the high-rise, medium-security Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) in Downtown Milwaukee on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018.
Since Tuesday, Aug. 21, incarcerated people have been participating in work stoppages, hunger and sit-down strikes and commissary boycotts to end prison slavery and demand systemic reform. As prisoners in more than 17 states and, most recently, people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) participate in what is expected to be the country’s largest prison strike to date, one local campaign aims to entirely shut down a Wisconsin facility in hopes of keeping thousands of people out of the system.
Chanting “Shut it down now!” members of the #CloseMSDF coalition stood outside the high-rise, medium-security Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) in Downtown Milwaukee on Thursday, Aug. 2. The demonstration was part of a daylong event to raise awareness for both the national strike—sparked by a riot in South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution that cost seven lives—and to voice their concerns about MSDF, which opened in 2001 to house people who allegedly violated rules of supervision.
The #CloseMSDF campaign, which launched in 2017, is saying MSDF is contributing to mass incarceration through crimeless revocation of people on parole and probation and keeping them in inhumane conditions. “This is not the pathway to the future; this is a pathway to destruction and continued oppression of the people who are more susceptible to being locked up and arrested by the police,” said Caliph Muab-El. Now in his late-30s, Muab-El said he has been on probation and parole in the state since he was 12 and hasn’t committed a crime in the community since he was 15.
Ending ‘Crimeless Revocation’
According to campaign organizers, the problem is that people can be reincarcerated for allegedly violating their rules of supervision, though not necessarily committing a crime. These violations could include driving, changing an address without permission or simply missing a scheduled or unscheduled appointment, according to a joint report from Human Impact Partners, WISDOM and Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO). “What we are demanding is more transparency in revocation processes, ending detainment of people on supervision for rules violations on mere allegation and slowing what I view as a violation of habeas corpus,” said Alan Schultz, an organizer with EXPO and #CloseMSDF.
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Between 2000 and 2008, overall prison admissions in the state increased by 19%, according to a report from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC). Around the same time, revocation-only admissions doubled. Though these rates have decreased slightly since, there were almost 3,300 revocation-only admissions in 2016. “We figure that, just by fixing crimeless and convictionless revocations, we could lessen about 3,000-3,500 people from the entire DOC system yearly,” Schultz said.
In addition, the joint report estimates that people admitted for revocation without a new offense will serve an average of 1.5 years in prison without being convicted of a new crime—costing Wisconsin $147.5 million in the process.
Muab-El said he was recently held for six months on baseless allegations while the DOC conducted an investigation. “The DOC expected to release me at the conclusion of six months to return back to my life after I lost two jobs, after I lost so many other things that helped add to my vitality as a human being and as a citizen of this city,” he said. “This is crimeless revocation, and it has to stop. It’s ruining too many lives.”
As an alternative, the campaign states that people facing potential revocation should be allowed to remain in their community until their hearing, and there should be no incarcerations for minor rule violations.
Depopulate and Close MSDF
One major concern for campaign organizers is what they call inhumane conditions at MSDF, citing poor ventilation, extreme heat, no access to sunlight or outdoor recreation, overcrowding in cells, 22 hours of lockdown per day and no in-person visits. Many people said they were denied medical treatment or weren’t given their medications. “That’s torture,” said lead EXPO organizer Jerome Dillard. “To not have sunlight? My question to you is, when the Sun doesn’t come out for three or four days, does it affect you? How do you think it affects me after 30, 60, 90 days, or even a year or more of living like that?”
The campaign also cites systemic racism and mistreatment of people who are mentally ill. Roughly 65% of the population at the facility are black, and 62% have a mental health diagnosis, according to a 2017 MSDF report.
The local correctional system has been under fire recently for poor conditions that have at times lead to death, with an estimated one death per year at MSDF, according to #CloseMSDF and a local investigative report. It has also received criticism for racial disparities, like the 53206 zip code, which has the highest incarceration rate of African American men in the nation.
“What will it take for you to understand that these systems are destroying our people, destroying our community?” Muab-El said. “You’re not rehabilitating people by thrusting them into a society that they can be abruptly taken away from. You’re not rehabilitating people when you’re snatching up all the programs that are meant to earn an early release. You know that it costs a lot less to treat people in a community, yet you want to send them to prison where there are no programs, and there is no hope for them at all.”
Reinvest in Communities
The facility’s operating budget was almost $40 million in 2017, costing $100 per inmate per day, according to information from MDSF. The #CloseMSDF campaign suggests the state reinvest this money into workforce development training, drug counseling, transformative justice and greater access to mental health professionals and clinics within the community.
According to the DOC website, the facility offers programs, including Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) counseling, education and GED testing and programs called Alternatives to Revocation and Thinking For A Change. However, #CloseMSDF is recommending alternative, community-based approaches to some of these programs, such as shifting the Alternatives to Revocation beds to the community and solving overcrowding issues through policy changes such as bail reform and increased use of treatment alternatives and diversion programs. “We’re talking about human rights here. We’re talking about the right to live. We’re talking about the right to thrive. We’re talking about the right to be free, to make a living, to build family, to build relationships,” Muab-El said.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin DOC was contacted for this article but did not respond to requests for comment in time for its publication. However, information on the facility website states that it is committed to the successful reintegration of offenders to the community, focusing on accountability, programming and a high level of collaboration with community partners.
“Staff, inmates and the public will be treated with dignity and respect and with recognition given to individual ideas and opinions,” according to the MSDF website. “There are very few high-rise detention facilities nationwide. Those that exist typically do not provide the programming and collaboration with the community that MSDF does; something that the DOC feels is an important component to offender change and public safety.”
The national strike will end on Sunday, Sept. 9, which marks the anniversary of the uprising that occurred at Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, N.Y., in 1971. But the #CloseMSDF campaign will continue building momentum through events, meetings and demonstrations in the coming months and years. More information can be found at closemsdf.org.
