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Felicity Rose, vice president of criminal justice research and policy at FWD.us, joined WJI and more than 80 guests on May 14 to share her research on the staggering economic costs of incarceration for the family members of imprisoned individuals. The incarceration crisis extends far beyond prison and jail walls. Families with incarcerated loved ones face lost income, housing instability, and expenses that prevent them from climbing the economic ladder. Each year, those families lose or spend almost $350 billion combined for childcare, travel expenses, communications, and other costs, including supplemental food from prison commissaries. Not surprisingly, the economic burden falls more heavily on families of color. Young adults with parents or siblings in prison mortgage their futures, while seniors with children in prison spend what little they may have out of fixed incomes. Children are frequently harmed by having to move (or even becoming unhoused), experiencing their families broken apart, or facing harmful or discriminatory treatment by teachers or others based on the actions of a parent. Based in Oakland, California, Rose spearheaded reasearch behind FWD.us' report We Can't Afford It: Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax. She talked not only about what drives these many costs and on whom they fall, but also how to mitigate them. In particular, she looked at various steps our neighbor state Illinois recently took to reduce its prison population significantly. Rose's suggestions included amending Wisconsin's "Truth-in-Sentencing" laws to return to earned good-time credits in prisons, narrowing sentence enhancements that force people into harmful plea deals, and creating ways to get people who are successful off of probation faster. Transparency about the enormous costs of the carceral system also may help. She pointed to one jurisdiction where prosecutors are required to inform a sentencing judge about how much a requested sentence will cost the state. Attendees networked and chatted during a cocktail hour, followed by Rose's thought-provoking presentation and an informative question-and-answer session. The event was held in Blue Ribbon Hall at Best Place, at the Historic Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you missed the event or want to watch Rose's presentation again, click on the YouTube video link below. We apologize that the lighting in the video is not the best (we're not professional videographers). The content is excellent, though! To better see the PowerPoint slides from the event, click here. FWD.us' report is available Please share the video with those in the courts, other portions of the carceral system, Legislature, and local government whose actions impact the rates of incarceration in Wisconsin. Please share this video with concerned citizens who can use their voices to call for change and families members of those in custody. And please share this video with family members who support those in prison and their children.  A slide from Rose's presentation
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At Wisconsin Justice Initiative's June 25 Salon, Fernanda Jimenez-Hauch and Mario Rubio presented information on the work of Voces de la Frontera's Comité Sin Fronteras. Comité Sin Fronteras advocates for DACA recipients and helps them with renewals. In addition, through its Community Defense Network, members protect immigrants in our community from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and train interested individuals in how to verify ICE presence and activity. Comité Sin Fronteras members Mario Rubio (left) and Fernanda Jimenez-Hauch (right) speak at WJI's Salon on June 25, 2025, at Turner Hall in Milwaukee. Slides from the presentation are available here. To sign up for Comité's verifier program, click here. Handouts at the Salon:
Wisconsin Justice Initiative presented its second annual "Advocate for Justice Award" to Parker White and Evan Bondoc of the Foley & Lardner law firm. White and Bondoc represented WJI pro bono regarding a 2024 rule petition in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to increase the use of professional interpreters in municipal courts statewide. White and Bondoc provided excellent representation, and the award acknowledges their skill, effort, and dedication in advocating for needed change. Executive Director Margo Kirchner presented the award at WJI's May 14 fundraiser at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For more than a year, White and Bondoc managed meetings, drafted a proposed new rule and well-reasoned briefs, and provided solid and insightful counsel. This past December they argued WJI's rule change petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Although the court did not agree with WJI's proposed new rule and denied the petition, every justice said that the issue was an important one, and the court referred the issue to the Wisconsin Judicial Council for further study. Since the rule petition ended, work to improve municipal court interpreter services continues, and White and Bondoc continue to provide strategic advice. Nicole D. Porter, senior director of advocacy with The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., presented "Decarceration 2.0: Charting New Strategies on Prison Population Reductions and Closures" to close to 100 attendees at Wisconsin Justice Initiative's fundraiser event on May 14. Porter discussed other states' recent efforts to reduce their prison populations, the current political climate impacting incarceration rates, and what can be done here in Wisconsin to return incarcerated people to their communities and reverse the past five decades of mass incarceration. Attendees enjoyed a cocktail hour with appetizers and engaging conversation, followed by Nicole's thought-provoking presentation and an informative question-and-answer session. The event was held in the Palm Garden at historic Turner Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you missed the event or want to watch Nicole's presentation again, click on the YouTube video link below. We admit we're not professional videographers, but the content is excellent! To better see the PowerPoint slides from the event, click here. Please share the video with those in the justice system, carceral system, and Legislature whose actions impact the rates of incarceration in Wisconsin and with concerned citizens who can use their voices to call for change. Many thanks to the following sponsors of the event: Diamond Level  Platinum Level
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Margo Kirchner Edgar Lin Ben Austen, author of Correction: Parole, Prison and the Possibility of Change, came up from Chicago to talk about not just the problems of America's criminal justice system but why and how we change it. He discussed his research regarding parole hearings, the continued reliance on the facts of past crimes rather than changes in the people who committed them, the difference one or two people in positions of power can make, the different trajectories of corrections systems between America and Scandinavian countries and the absence of a social safety net in America, and some changes to be made from viewing prison facilities as warehouses to places of rehabilitation. Attendees experienced a lively cocktail hour, conversation, Ben's thoughtful and thought-provoking presentation, and the thoughts of others in response to Ben's talk. If you missed the event, or just want to watch Ben's presentation again, here it is! WJI thanks the following sponsors for their support of the event: Platinum
The Colby Abbot and Railway Exchange are historic office buildings in downtown Milwaukee. For information on renting space in these buildings, contact [email protected]. Gold
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Two candidates are vying for a seat on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench. The seat in Branch 43 is open due to Judge Marshall Murray's decision not to run for re-election. The election is April 2, 2024. Candidate Rochelle Johnson-Bent (below left) is an attorney in the Milwaukee Public Schools system. Candidate Marisabel Cabrera (below right) is an elected Wisconsin Assembly representative and attorney at Cabrera Law Office. The candidates joined WJI in person on Jan. 31, 2024, to introduce themselves and answer questions from attendees. The event was held as a luncheon at Riverfront Pizzeria in Milwaukee, hence the imperfect visual quality and some background noise at times. Wisconsin legal historian Joseph Ranney joined WJI at its virtual June Salon for a fascinating talk on post-Civil War civil rights laws across the nation and in particular here in Wisconsin. Ranney is an adjunct professor at Marquette Law School and the author of several books and articles on Wisconsin and American legal history, including Trusting Nothing to Providence: A History of Wisconsin's Legal System and Wisconsin and the Shaping of American Law. He is working on a history of civil rights law in the Northern and Western states from colonial times to 1968. Ranney's talk relates to WJI's Unsung Heroes blog series on women and people of color whose impacts on Wisconsin legal history deserve more attention. Ranney discusses, among others, two men profiled in the series: Ezekiel Gillespie, who fought for the right to vote for Wisconsin's Black men, and William T. Green, who as an attorney worked to enforce civil rights. WJI Executive Director Margo Kirchner chats with Meagan Winn, director of Milwaukee County's Eviction Diversion Initiative. The Eviction Diversion Initiative is a new program providing tenants and landlords with information and resources to resolve housing issues both inside and outside of court. Avoiding eviction litigation can be important for tenants, as an eviction judgment from (or even the filing of) an eviction lawsuit can make it difficult for tenants to find future housing. The initiative connects tenants and landlords with resources such as rental assistance, housing counseling, legal assistance, and mediation. Funded by a grant from the National Center for State Courts, the program includes data collection and development of user-friendly court rules and procedures. Milwaukee County was one of the first cohort of states and municipalities selected by the National Center for State Courts for funding to pilot eviction-diversion strategies. Two candidates are vying for a seat on the Milwaukee Municipal Court bench. The election is April 4, 2023. Candidate Lena Taylor is an attorney and elected state senator. Candidate Molly Gena is the managing attorney at Legal Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit law firm providing free legal services in civil cases to those who meet certain low-income requirements. Gena (on the viewer's left) and Taylor (on the viewer's right) joined WJI in person on January 25 to introduce themselves and answer questions from attendees. Notes: Taylor had a prior engagement that, when combined with snow that day, caused her to enter the event a few minutes after it started. The event was held as a luncheon at Riverfront Pizzeria in Milwaukee, hence the imperfect visual quality and some background noise at times. Attorney Jessie Long joined WJI on December 15 to discuss Legal Action of Wisconsin's Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability (CDLRE). The CDLRE helps low-income people reinstate or get their driver’s licenses so they can get to and from work. Long is one of two Legal Action attorneys who staff the CDLRE, which is located at the Milwaukee Area Technical College's downtown campus. Lack of a valid driver's license can impact the one's job opportunities and the ability to get to work on time. Driving without a valid license may result in additional tickets that can create debt that low-income people cannot afford. Attorneys at the CDLRE help clients navigate the administrative and judicial requirements to get their licenses back. Long discussed the high percentage of license suspensions caused by a person's failure to pay prior municipal forfeitures and how a suspension for failure to pay often does not relate to one's driving ability. Suspensions for failure to pay last longer than revocations for first-offense operating while intoxicated offenses and most suspensions due to points. Also, municipalities that suspend licenses for failure to pay don't necessarily collect more revenue than municipalities that do not. Several states have moved away from license suspensions as a means of enforcing payments for tickets, but Wisconsin statutes still allow it. Hear more about the impact of license suspensions on the poor and what the CDLRE does to help people get licensed again. |
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