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| Wisconsin Governor reappoints corrections secretary |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/26/2001 |
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Gov. Scott McCallum has reappointed Jon Litscher as corrections secretary and said his budget would include money to hire staff for a privately built prison at Stanley. Litscher, appointed to the post in 1999 by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, has weathered a year that included an investigation into the death of an asthmatic inmate at Taycheedah Correctional Institution and continued calls for the state to bring prisoners home from out-of-state private prisons. McCallum and Litscher want to open the 1,500-bed, medium-security Stanley prison to help bring home some of the 4,000 inmates the state houses in Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi and Minnesota. Wisconsin's inmate population stands at 20,130. The Stanley prison, built privately without any agreement for the state to use it, has stood empty while lawmakers have debated whether to give the state the money and authority to sign the lease. The state reached a preliminary agreement last fall to lease the private prison and the Joint Finance Committee released $500,000 last September to hire a warden and staff for the facility. Walker said McCallum's announcement that he'll include money to staff the prison in his budget -- which he's slated to unveil Feb. 20 - should push the Legislature to pass a bill authorizing the state's lease of the prison. Staffing the prison would cost about $17 million a year for salaries and fringe benefits, corrections officials said. McCallum said the money would help create more than 750 jobs over the next two to three years. But Litscher said his top priority is to enhance rehabilitation efforts in the state's prison system, including more money for alcohol and drug treatment and educational programs. |
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