In an era of hyper-partisanship, criminal justice reform has brought fiscal conservatives and social justice-minded liberals together. The surprise collaboration has led to positive change throughout the country, but Wisconsin has yet to learn the lesson.
Twenty years ago, prison overcrowding in Wisconsin led to hundreds of inmates being housed by private prisons, costing millions of taxpayer dollars each year. At the same time, new prisons were constructed and opened at a rate of nearly one prison per year, also costing millions of taxpayer dollars. Today, we stand on the verge of repeating this costly history.
Wisconsin’s prisons are designed to hold roughly 16,000 inmates, but today they house nearly 23,000, and even this isn’t enough to hold the growing population. Overflow inmates serving state sentences are housed in county jails. The term used to describe these overflow prison cells is “contract beds,” because the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) must contract with a different entity to house state inmates.
The number of contract beds has risen steadily over the last few years. In January 2016, the DOC needed 50 contract beds. A year later, more than 200. Today, there are more than 440 inmates in contract bed facilities. The DOC pays counties $51.50 per inmate, per day. In 2018, taxpayers will see $8.6 million given to counties to house state inmates because of overcrowding. According to the DOC, there are only 500 available county jail beds, meaning that inmate #501 will likely need to be sent out of state. Out-of-state prisons—including the possibility of using private prisons—will likely cost even more than the use of county jails.
Unsafe, Expensive and Ineffective
Using county jails or private prisons makes us less safe. The contract bed payments are made for the minimal amount of inmate care possible and do not include corrective programming or treatment that reduce the likelihood of reoffending. A growing number of prison admissions come from repeat drunk drivers; there isn’t enough room for treatment in the prison system, and none available in the contract bed program. Today, there is a waiting list for treatment within the DOC consisting of more than 5,900 eligible inmates, while advances in technology allow for improved monitoring of sobriety in the community.
This is both an expensive and ineffective corrections policy. While the DOC scrambles to place overflow inmates, discussions have begun in Madison regarding the construction of a new prison or prisons. This work is just beginning, but a recent estimate by the DOC projected the cost of building a new prison at roughly $300 million, with annual operational costs in the millions.
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As Wisconsin faces prison overcrowding, states around the country are moving in the opposite direction. Criminal justice reform has swept through both conservative and liberal states alike. Stalwart conservative states like Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana have all engaged in substantial criminal justice reform. Prison populations in those states have fallen so much that prisons are being closed. In the last few years, Texas has closed four prisons and is scheduled to close four more. More importantly, crime is also down.
Closer to home, Michigan recently passed meaningful criminal justice reform. Michigan’s political landscape is very similar to Wisconsin’s—a Republican governor and Republican majorities in both state legislative bodies. Republicans in Michigan, facing similar budget pressure because of prison costs, passed more than a dozen reform measures this year.
But Wisconsin refuses to learn from the lessons of its neighbors. Criminal justice reform measures can reduce both incarceration and crime, while targeting the costly process of incarceration on those that commit violent offenses. Without change, we will either send people out of state, build new prisons or both. These options are both less effective and more expensive than reform.
The question remains whether Wisconsin’s political leaders will learn from those around the country by bringing both parties together to lead meaningful reform and avoiding the repetition of history from 20 years ago.
State Rep. Evan Goyke is serving his third term representing the North and West sides of Milwaukee. Prior to his election, Rep. Goyke served as a state public defender in Milwaukee. He is a 2009 graduate of Marquette University Law School.
