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| Proposed Wis. Prison Plan Would Have Local Impact |
| By The Journal Times |
| Published: 03/17/2003 |
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About 400 nonviolent offenders would be diverted from prison each year under a program proposed in Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's 2003-05 state budget. Instead of being sent back to prison, offenders who violate terms of their probation or parole could be sentenced to 90 days of 'intensive programming' at a prison under construction in Sturtevant in Racine County. The program would help 'reform and rehabilitate nonviolent offenders and avoid the most expensive and less-productive option of sending them to prison,' Doyle's budget proposal reads. Final details have not been worked out, but programming would include work release, community service and treatment for alcohol or drug problems, said Bill Clausius, Department of Corrections spokesman. Of 8,012 admissions to Wisconsin prisons in 2002, 3,087 were for revocation of probation or parole, Clausius said. The governor's estimate of diverting 400 offenders is based on the program's capacity of 600 participants per year and likely odds they would violate terms again, Clausius said. The program is just one of the broad-sweeping changes envisioned in Doyle's two-year $49.4-billion budget plan, which still must be approved by the Legislature. Without corrective action, Wisconsin's total budget deficit is expected to reach $3.2 billion by June 30, 2005. Doyle uses words like 'redesign' and 'transformation' to describe his ideas to reduce the state's reliance on prisons by offering sentencing flexibility, rehabilitation options, and crime prevention programs. The justice system would be more effective and affordable, and state residents would be safer, Doyle said. Another proposal would cut 200 middle-management jobs and shuffle the opening dates of some state prisons. Doyle wants to add bed space to some other prisons and convert still others to better suit his goals. About 3,000 prisoners would remain in other states as a cost-saving measure. Republicans aren't yet condemning Doyle's overall proposal for the justice system, but some say his economics are flawed and sentencing alternatives could be a mistake. 'I have a philosophical disagreement with any type of early release program, and I would hope the governor is not going back to the days of probation and parole,' said Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbostford, who heads the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice. Suder said the state's prison building boom, ushered in by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, was a logical reaction to a system that 15 years ago relied too heavily on probation and parole without providing ample resources. |
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