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| Wisconsin prisoners held out of state down dramatically |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/07/2004 |
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Three-fourths of Wisconsin prisoners who were held out-of-state because of prison crowding have returned over the last year and a half, Gov. Jim Doyle said last Wednesday. By next spring, nearly all out-of-state prisoners should be back in Wisconsin, the governor said. A new prison, a new drug treatment center and more state prisoners housed in county jails have opened beds throughout Wisconsin's prison system, enabling state officials to bring prisoners home, Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank said. "The key point here is by bringing prisoners back we improve rehabilitation," Frank said. "We make a long term investment, keeping them close to home, close to their families for positive support so when they're released back into the community they have somewhere to go. You can't do that when somebody is housed in another state." Wisconsin has struggled since the 1990s with jammed prisons. The state led the nation in 1999 with nearly 4,000 inmates housed out-of-state, prompting complaints from prisoners' families and advocates who said many nonviolent offenders ended up out-of-state, and locking people up far from home strips away support and destroys any chance for rehabilitation. Doyle, a Democrat, made bringing prisoners back a goal of his administration. When he took office in January 2003, there were 3,482 prisoners housed out-of-state. By December 2003, that number had decreased to 1,890. As of last Wednesday, 855 prisoners remained in out-of-state facilities. |
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