By Gretchen Schuldt Advocates and medical experts around the country are urging prison officials to release low-risk incarcerated people from prison to stem the tide of the coronavirus, but prison populations in Wisconsin have declined just minimally, DOC figures show. Wisconsin has experienced some success in reducing the number of people on community supervision who are locked up for one reason or another. That number dropped 39% in about a month. The coronavirus crisis has been well-established in the public consciousness for more than a month. Gov. Tony Evers declared a public health emergency on March 13; he announced on March 22 that the State Department of Corrections would not accept inmate transfers from counties. News about the dangers of coronavirus in prisons and jails specifically began appearing months ago; in January, the focus was on prisons in other countries, such as China; by early March, corrections officials in the United States were well aware of the dangers to incarcerated populations here. Many court proceedings in the state have ground to a halt, meaning that fewer people are getting sentenced to prison, which should contribute to declines in prison populations. The charts below tell the story. The source for the charts is DOC inmate population counts. Men's prisons: No surprise that the maximum security male population has barely budged; after all, these are the men considered the greatest threats to public safety. But the declines in the populations of men considered to be of lesser risk also are minimal. Contract beds: A decline of a whopping 20 people, and the Milwaukee County House of Correction accounts for more than half of that total. Meanwhile, the DOC is not accepting inmates from jails. Other institutions: The number of people on community supervision who are in locked up has dropped significantly. The number of women serving prison sentences, though, has not dropped much, and the number in minimum security institutions has actually gone up by four.
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By Gretchen Schuldt
Advocacy groups on Tuesday called on Gov. Tony Evers to expand the compassionate release program to allow the release of more aged and infirm incarcerated people from state prisons. "The prison health system cannot handle a massive outbreak of COVID-19. State officials must work to keep our communities safe without putting those serving prison sentences at unnecessary risk," the groups said in a letter to Evers. "You and the DOC (Department of Corrections) must act now to release some of those imprisoned. Lives really are at stake." The letter was signed by the Wisconsin Justice Initiative; the ACLU of Wisconsin; the Milwaukee Turners Confronting Mass Incarceration Committee; the National Lawyers Guild, Milwaukee Chapter; and WISDOM. The groups requested Evers to direct DOC to "aggressively" use the program to release qualified, low risk-people from "our overcrowded, understaffed prisons." "Wider use of compassionate release will reduce prison crowding and help prevent the spread of coronavirus," the groups wrote. "It will reduce stress on prison medical staff and take a long overdue step toward making the compassionate release program an effective and useful tool. The risks posed by coronavirus to too many incarcerated people are greater than the risks these people pose to the public. " By Gretchen Schuldt Gov. Tony Evers is proposing to spend $8.1 million to improve heating and ventilation at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an indication that he won't shut down the facility as its critics demand. Heat index temperatures can hit more than 90 degrees in much of the 15-story building and 120 degrees in the kitchen, according to state budget documents. The proposed project, which would be completed in 2023, would improve the situation, according to the Department of Corrections (DOC). Mark Rice, an ex-MSDF inmate and an organizer of the "Close MSDF" campaign, called for more. "A true people's budget focused on racial equity, justice, and compassion must include a plan to divest from Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility and other prisons in Wisconsin and redirect resources to the neighborhoods in Milwaukee that have been the most harmed by incarceration," said Rice, now lead national organizer for JustLeadershipUSA, a group working to reducing mass incarceration. MSDF is a medium-security prison in Downtown Milwaukee that also holds inmates pending investigations into their alleged probation, parole, or extended supervision violations. It has a design capacity of 1,038. DOC said in its budget request that the facility's population regularly exceeds 1,100 inmates. More than half suffer from serious mental illness and about 75 percent receive daily psychotropic drugs. "These drugs often create additional health concerns for inmates in high heat index situations," DOC said. By Gretchen Schuldt Wisconsin keeps more people on parole longer than most other states, and more parole terms end with incarceration here than in other states, according to a report released Tuesday by the Columbia Justice Lab. “Our report contains troubling findings that Wisconsin is wasting money and wasting lives by supervising and violating thousands of people not for new crimes, but for technical violations of supervision,” Vincent Schiraldi, co-director of the Justice Lab and former Commissioner of New York City Probation, said in a prepared statement. “Wisconsin should now follow the example of dozens of states and focus community supervision resources on those most in need of it, stop returning people to prison for ‘ticky-tack’ rule violations, and use the savings from such reforms to fund programs and opportunities that help people turn their lives around.” Below are highlights from the report, "The Wisconsin Community Corrections Story." The language generally taken straight from the document (omitting citations). The facts
By Gretchen Schuldt All they want to do is get married, but those wedding bells have been tough to come by. Wendy Sisavath and Victoriano Heredia, an inmate at Wisconsin's Fox Lake Correctional Institution. have been trying for almost a year to get someone at the prison to get involved so they can do what they need to do to get down the aisle and exchange vows. No luck. They filed the original paperwork in February or March of last year and are no closer to the altar than they were then. "We are banging our heads against the wall," Sisavath said. DOC spokesman Tristan Cook said in a November email that the agency was actively reviewing the wedding request. '"Inmate Heredia’s social worker is working with him," Cook wrote. Cook has since left his job. DOC did not respond to a follow-up email sent Friday. Heredia got a new social worker in November, his third since June. This latest social worker, Sisavath said, insisted "'I don't do the marriage thing. It goes through the chaplain.'" Getting hitched in prison is way more complicated than getting married on the outside; the Department of Corrections' inmate marriage policy is five pages long. Among other things, it requires extensive counseling for every couple. Officials at the prison must approve the counselor. Sisavath said she and Heredia first were told they would have to undergo six months of marriage counseling. Then, because Heredia is a lifer, prison officials changed the requirement to 12 months. Heredia is required to have $2,000 on hand to cover counseling costs, including the cost of guards at the counseling sessions, even though the area is guarded anyway. That $2,000 is a problem in itself. Heredia doesn't have it in his available prison account, and if Sisavath were to give it to him, she would be unable to get it back if something happened and the marriage did not come off. Inmates are not allowed to send money from their accounts out of the institution. 1.8 million hours in state prison overtime, costing $51 million, logged in fiscal 2018, DOC reports1/10/2019 By Gretchen Schuldt
Correctional officers and sergeants logged 1.8 million hours of overtime at adult facilities last year at a cost of almost $51 million, according to a new Department of Corrections report. That amounts to 34,714 hours a week, or 3,001 hours more per week than the overtime worked by all DOC workers in 2015-16, according to a 2017-19 budget paper prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Security staff worked an average of 28,235 hours per week overtime in 2015-16, according to the LFB. Almost half of last year's overtime was attributable to employees plugging holes when positions were vacant, according to DOC. The new figures cover the year ending July 1. Correctional officers and sergeants at Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison for men, recorded a total of 212,734 overtime hours at a total cost of $6.2 million, tops in the adult system, according to the report. Some 67 percent of that was due to staff vacancies, the report said. Overall, system wide, position vacancies required 844,195 hours of overtime at a cost of $24.6 million, according to the report. That is 47 percent of the hours and cost of overtime. Other reasons for overtime including sick leave, construction project detail, assisting inmates with medical visits, trips, and training, according to the report. Gov. Tony Evers took office this week vowing to reduce prison populations. Some legislators want to build additional facilities, though the state cannot staff the ones they have. In May, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 920 jobs at state prisons were empty, a 12.5 percent vacancy rate. DOC seeks money, staff to improve Racine prison health care as inmates wait for dental services10/3/2018 By Gretchen Schuldt More than 400 Racine Correctional Institution inmates were waiting to see a dentist as of July, and 23 of those had waited more than 40 weeks, according to a state budget request. Fifty-seven inmates on the list were waiting for "essential services" and 41 were waiting for dentures. Dental care at the prison is "inadequate," the request said. The Department of Corrections detailed the need for improved dental services at RCI in the 2019-21 budget request it submitted to Gov. Scott Walker, who has not visited a state prison during his years in office. The department is seeking 27 new positions to staff the new $8 million health services unit at RCI scheduled to open in April 2020. The department also is seeking $1 million in fiscal 2020 and $2.8 million in fiscal 2021 to pay for the new positions. The share of new staff that would go to dental services is fairly minimal - a 60 percent full-time equivalent dentist, a 60 percent full-time equivalent dental assistant, and a 20 percent full-time equivalent dental hygienist. Those position should, however, help the institution "rectify the inadequate dental care that inmates receive as a result of long delays" in getting treatment, the request said. Wisconsin is not alone in struggling to meet inmate dental needs. Standards vary from state to state and agency to agency, according to a report by The Marshall Project. "Even before their incarceration, prisoners are likely to have unmet dental needs, research shows," The Marshall Project reported. "While in prison, they have a constitutional right to dental care, but the courts have offered little guidance on the services that institutions must provide. If a tooth or gum problem is causing more than minimal pain, facilities are required to treat it, said David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project. 'Even a few days of untreated dental pain is not allowed.' ” Also included in the budget request for the new facility is funding for guards, nurses, and medical assistants. The new unit, triple the size of the existing one, will allow DOC to better meet health care needs, the request said. As of May, it said, "41.6 percent of RCI’s inmates had a mental health condition and 7.7 percent of inmates had a severe mental illness. ... Additionally, the DOC believes that the inmate population will continue to age going forward, which will further increase the need for expanded health services to inmates. " With the smaller facility and smaller staff used now, staff members "currently struggle to consistently monitor chronic conditions," the request said.
There are seven to 10 offsite medical visits every day, and about one of those is a trip to the local emergency room. "These offsite treatments not only have greater medical costs but also require at least one security staff member to accompany inmates on trips out of the institution," the request said. Adding the requested staff would allow for improved preventative care for inmates, it said. "Inmates’ chronic conditions, such as HIV, diabetes, and hypertension, would be less likely to worsen while they are incarcerated and less likely to result in expensive hospital visits," the request said. Improved on-site health care also means fewer off-site trips for corrections staff, it said. If the prison does not get the additional staff, it will have to rely on contracted help and limited-term employees, who are employees who sign on for short stints and do not plan to stay. Contracted and limited-term employees are harder to recruit and have higher turnover than full-time employees, the request said. Relying on contracted and limited-term employees also would reduce the benefits of the new building as they "provide less continuity of care to patients due to their higher turnover and they are often less experienced than FTE staff," the request said. By Gretchen Schuldt More than 400 inmates serving state prison sentences pass their time in county jails each day. Those inmates have little programming and little to do except mingle with an ever-changing cast of pre-trial detainees of all security levels. The jails profit nicely from the arrangement – the state pays them $51.50 per day per inmate – to house the state's overflow. County jail time is "abysmal," according to Daniel Monge, who spent nine months of his state prison sentence in jail. "County jail time is tough - it's really tough," he said. “If push comes to shove and you have to do one or the other, my vote actually is to build a new prison because serving time in a county jail is no joke," he said. "It’s extremely rough, it’s extremely awful, it’s borderline inhumane.” Monge was a panelist at the recent "Inmate 501" presentation by State Rep. Evan Goyke at Turner Hall. Below is a video of Monge; former inmate James Cross; and Goyke talking about state jail time. (There is more video from the event, sponsored by Milwaukee Turners and the Confronting Mass Incarceration work group, posted on the WJI Facebook page.) A list of participating jails follows the video. Contracted facilities, including jails, holding state inmates serving state sentences. This is the final installment in WJI's "Our crowded Wisconsin prisons" series that details the building repairs, upgrades, and new facilities the Department of Corrections requested as part of the 2017-19 state budget. Here is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7. The great majority of the budget requests, including those for health facility improvements and adequate food preparation areas, were denied. Instead, Walker and the Legislature established a committee to study prison facility needs. The Legislature and governor did approve spending $7 million to build a geriatric prison facility. The authorization came as an amendment to Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget, and it is not clear how many inmates the facility will serve or whether it will meet the Department of Corrections' needs. There were no requests submitted by the DOC for the facilities included in this last round-up. They are included to show how crowded facilities are and to serve as a reminder that action is needed to reduce the prison population, not just increase prison capacity. Classification: Medium security Capital budget request: None Classification: Minimum security (center system) Capital budget request: None Institution: Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility Classification: Medium security Capital budget request: None By Gretchen Schuldt The state's prison study committee – the one to which Assembly Speaker Robin Vos refused to appoint Democrats – held its first meeting, according to the Kewaunee County Comet. The committee already has approved "a request for proposal (RFP) for a 'committee consultant' to be responsible for conducting an analysis of all correctional institutions and centers and providing the Committee with recommendations to resolve facility needs statewide," the Comet reported. "A key part of the RFP is a requirement for a review of a proposal by Rep. David Steffen, R-Green Bay, to decommission the Green Bay Correctional Institution and builld a new state prison in Northeast Wisconsin, possibly in Kewaunee County," the Comet said. While state officials ponder whether to sell the 100-year-old facility, the Legislature and Gov. Walker, as part of the 2017-19 budget, approved $18.5 million in new spending for cell hall improvements, raising to $22.2 million the total earmarked for the project. Rejected was a $10.8 million request from the Department of Corrections for constructoinof a new health / psychological services unit. This is part 5 in our series on Wisconsin prisons, how crowded they are, and what the Department of Corrections said is needed to improve, repair, and maintain them. Here is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. As always, this primer does not really address the consequences of the crowding and physical shortcomings of the institutions – the impacts on inmates and staff. But we sure hope you will keep them in mind as you consider the price of mass incarceration. Institution: Green Bay Correctional Institution, Portage Classification: Maximum security Capital budget request 1: $18,482,000 Status: Approved From the request: This project would provide new electrical/lighting, electronics, heating and ventilation systems in both the North and South Cells; and plumbing in the South Cell. The project work would replace the current electrical system with needed circuits and convert to GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter), and upgrade lighting to energy efficient and security rated light fixtures, as the existing electrical systems were designed to 1950s standards and do not meet current building standards. Most of the electrical troughs that run throughout the cell halls, are heavily rusted. These troughs serve as the electrical system ground and if rusted through, wires will become exposed. The project would replace outlets, electrical panels and troughs to accommodate the 592 cells. The tier lighting, attic lighting and all common area lighting will need to be replaced/upgraded in both cell halls. This project would enhance the security of the cell halls by adding an electronic intercom system. This system would significantly improve communication and safety of inmates by providing a way to contact staff during medical or other emergencies. This project would also install cabling/wiring for TV, door, alarms and controls. South Cell Hall plumbing will be replaced with this project. This will include the replacement of the existing approximate four gallon per flush porcelain toilets and sinks with more efficient stainless steel single unit lavatories. Most of the electrical troughs that run throughout the cell halls, are heavily rusted. These troughs serve as the electrical system ground and if rusted through, wires will become exposed. The heating/ventilation system uses four outdated heaters in each cell hall and needs to be replaced. If any of the heaters fail, there is no redundancy to provide backup heat. The existing heaters pull in a minimum of 50% outside air in the winter. The exhaust fans on the roof pull out the difference. The steam heat system is well over 60 years old and should be replaced to provide reliability for these critical housing units. ... The supply lines and sewage pipes are very old and develop leaks on a continual basis so this project will include replacement of the drains, waste and vent piping and potable water lines. It will also provide penal style water control systems to reduce/eliminate exposure to raw sewage, and reduce daily maintenance. Capital budget request 2: $10,830,000 Status: Rejected From the request: This project would construct a new Health Services Unit (HSU) / Psychological Services Unit, designed to meet the medical, dental, psychological, and therapeutic needs of our diverse inmate population. Health Services Unit to include: one waiting area, examination rooms, offices for health services professionals, offices for clinical services professionals, a programming group room, medical and clinical records storage, climate controlled secured medication and supply room, dental operatory, a multi-purpose therapy room, a telemedicine system, a radiology room, lab spaces, officer stations and other related spaces. The goal of this project is to provide GBCI with the resources necessary to provide ambulatory health care services for all inmates at GBCI, utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach (physical and mental health wellness) in an environment that is safe for caregivers and inmates. GBCI has a high percentage of inmates with psychotropic needs. The existing HSU was built in the early 1960s. The layout doesn’t meet the guideline of a maximum security health services unit building. ... The existing HSU was built in the early 1960s. The layout doesn’t meet the guideline of a maximum security health services unit building. The HSU does not have a waiting area or a central location for storage of inmate medical records; medication storage is not adequate. The HSU presents security and space concerns. The layout of current HSU doesn’t meet the guideline of a maximum security HSU Building. GBCI is faced with an aging inmate population with increased medical needs. The inmate population at GBCI has a high proportion of psychotropic medications needs inmates. There are a significant number of inmates that require the use of wheelchairs or other assistive devise for mobility. Continued use of the current Health Service Unit will be unable to meet the health care needs of 1,091 inmates given the aging and types of infirmities of the population. ... Insufficient space and inefficient layout of the HSU contribute to a wide variety of concerns relating to safety, effectiveness and efficiency of staff, security of the institution and inmate health care. For example, the dental hygienist must work in a separate room from the dental staff due to existing layout constraints. This means an additional correctional officer must also staff that area. Institution: Oshkosh Correctional Institution, Oshkosh Classification: Medium security Capital budget request: None Institution: Sturtevant Transitional Facility, Sturtevant
Classification: Minimum security Capital budget request: None Inmates at Columbia Correctional Institution sleep on the floor because there are not enough beds, according to a Department of Corrections budget request. Others are released from prison directly from a solitary confinement unit where they "are single celled, have no movement, eat in cell, recreate alone or segregated, and have very limited property." The released inmates "not only haven’t functioned in society in some time, but they haven’t functioned in general population of the institution in some time, if ever," DOC said in its request for $25,354,000. The State Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker said no and established a study committee to discuss the state's prison needs. What could go wrong? This is part 4 in our series on Wisconsin prisons, how crowded they are, and what the Department of Corrections said is needed to improve, repair, and maintain them. Here is Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. And here is a link to a video of State Rep. Evan Goyke's presentation, titled "Inmate 501: Converging Problems in Wisconsin's Prison System," on the choices for Wisconsin's prison future. As he says in his accompanying publication, "Inmate 501 will be the first Wisconsin inmate sent out of state because of overcrowding in nearly 20 years. Recent prison population growth is set to exceed all available options in state. We face challenging decisions. Do we send people out of state? Do we build a new prison? Do we reform?" Goyke votes for reform. So do we. This primer does not really address the consequences of the crowding and physical shortcomings of the institutions – the impacts on inmates and staff. But we sure hope you will keep them in mind as you consider the price of mass incarceration. Institution: Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage Classification: Maximum security Capital budget request: $25,354,000 Status: Rejected From the request: This project would construct a new 100-cell Transitional Housing Unit next to the current housing Unit 9 building for inmates with special program needs, including inmates needing to integrate back into general population after long periods in segregation. ... The Transitional Housing Unit will be ADA compliant and able to accommodate inmates with special physical needs, such as being confined to a wheelchair. It would be preferable that at least 50% of the cells are on ground level, and would not require the use of a lift. At a minimum, in order for CCI to be ADA compliant, 16% of the cells must be built on ground level. The Transitional Housing Unit will have single and double cells (approximately 20% of the total cells will be double cells). It will also have programming space for group and individual programming, a dayroom for eating meals and for recreation, a food servery for preparing meal trays, an officer’s control bubble, an officer’s workstation in the dayroom, storage space for supplies/equipment, storage space to house medications, a unit laundry for inmate clothing, and office space for staff such as clinicians, social workers, and housing unit management staff. Expansion to the RH2 building will include program/treatment areas, staff offices, no-contact visiting space, and storage. In addition, the recreation pens will be covered to allow for outdoor recreation in all seasons. The RH2 currently does not have any programming space, or adequate treatment space. Inmates are evaluated by health services staff and psychological services staff in the dayroom providing for no means of confidentiality. There is inadequate storage space requiring supplies to be stored in the open of the dayroom. There is no office space for staff in RH2, and staff currently uses limited office space in other buildings in the institution. The new Transitional Housing Unit will be built to allow for flexibility in programming to meet the needs of the dynamic inmate population at CCI. This includes inmates needing to integrate back into general population after long stays in restrictive housing (greater than 120 days), inmates prone to self-harm, and inmates that struggle to function in general population. This might include inmates with temporary physical limitations (possibly after surgery), inmates with serious mental health issues, or inmates with gender identity disorders. This type of flexibility in a housing unit is a critical need at CCI for the following reasons:
Inmates are evaluated by health services staff and psychological services staff in the dayroom providing for no means of confidentiality.
The environment in RH1 can be very loud and disruptive and not conducive to overcoming thoughts or behaviors of self-harm.
Institution: New Lisbon Correctional Institution, New Lisbon Classification: Medium security Capital budget request: $0 Institution: Oakhill Correctional Institution, Sturtevant
Classification: Minimum security Capital budget request: $5,042,000 Status: Rejected From the request: This project would install high efficiency boilers in various buildings at Oakhill Correctional Institution (OCI), designed to replace the existing central boiler steam system and underground steam piping, underground condensate piping, steam traps, and condensate tanks. ... A fourth boiler was added in 2006 and is primarily used is for low pressure summer loads. Upon completion of this project, the fourth boiler will be transferred to another DOC facility that is in need of a summer boiler. |
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