It's Time to Close Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF)!
Governor Evers and Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy
Conditions at Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) are out of step with Wisconsin values. Not only have conditions at the prison been deplorable for years, but the very notion of locking up people struggling with parole and mental health issues is at odds with common sense approaches to justice.
Crimeless revocation – the practice of re-incarcerating people on probation, parole, and extended supervision for minor rule violations – is more than significant. It is a failed policy, a waste of money, and an embarrassment to Wisconsin.
James Wilborn, a prominent Milwaukee leader who was leading organizing efforts to end crimeless revocations, died in Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility during the summer of 2015. The extreme heat at MSDF was a factor in his death, as was his inability to obtain medications that he needed there. He should have never been incarcerated there.
Several other people have died in this facility in recent years because their medical or psychiatric conditions were improperly monitored or left untreated.
Problems facing people incarcerated at MSDF include extreme heat, poor ventilation, no access to outdoor recreation or sunlight, being locked down for over 20 hours a day, no in-person visits, and other abuses. All of this is for people who have not been convicted of new crimes and in most cases have not even been charged with new crimes.
The following are our demands:
DEMAND 1: Stop incarcerating people for violations of supervision, continue to transfer all “Alternative to Revocation” beds into the community, and end probation and parole holds. Governor Evers must appoint agency directors who are committed to ending supervision-driven incarceration.
DEMAND 2: Depopulate and close the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, and demolish it so that it can never again be used to cage a human being. The Legislature must introduce legislation to defund and close MSDF and must support efforts to demolish the facility.
DEMAND 3: Repeal Truth in Sentencing, reduce probation and parole terms, cap the maximum length of those terms, drastically reduce the number of conditions of probation and parole supervision, and eliminate all supervision fees. In addition to repealing damaging laws, the Legislature must also pass laws that cap the maximum length of supervision, limit conditions to the least restrictive conditions necessary to help someone successfully complete their supervision, and eliminate all supervision fees.
DEMAND 4: Reinvest the money wasted on MSDF back into communities. Wisconsin must reinvest the excessive corrections spending into workforce development training for formerly incarcerated people, into expanded mental health services that are easily accessible, and into community-based organizations like Project RETURN that connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs, housing, peer support, treatment programs and other needed services.
Governor Evers must close MSDF and reinvest the money saved to build safer, stronger, and healthier communities!
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To:
Governor Evers and Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy
From:
[Your Name]
Conditions at Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) are out of step with Wisconsin values. Not only have conditions at the prison been deplorable for years, but the very notion of locking up people struggling with parole and mental health issues is at odds with common sense approaches to justice.
Crimeless revocation – the practice of re-incarcerating people on probation, parole, and extended supervision for minor rule violations – is more than significant. It is a failed policy, a waste of money, and an embarrassment to Wisconsin.
A recent Health Impact Assessment demonstrates that Wisconsin incarcerated 3,000 people for crimeless revocations in 2015. This study suggests that incarcerating people for crimeless rule violations does not improve public safety, is associated with a wide range of detrimental effects on children and families, and can damage the health of people on supervision.
In 2001, the state of Wisconsin built MSDF to house people who have allegedly violated rules of probation, parole, and extended supervision. The state uses this facility to unnecessarily incarcerate thousands of people who have not been convicted of new crimes.
In the last 16 years, thousands of individuals, convicted of no new crime, have been re-incarcerated at MSDF—over sixty percent of them black men. This practice of incarceration for alleged crimeless rule violations exacerbates racial inequities in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and the inhumane conditions at MSDF violate basic human rights and defy our notions of justice and freedom.
James Wilborn, who was an EXPO leader, died in Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility during the summer of 2015. The extreme heat at MSDF was a factor in his death, as was his inability to obtain medications that he needed there. He should have never been incarcerated there.
Several other people have died in this facility in recent years because their medical or psychiatric conditions were improperly monitored or left untreated.
Problems facing people incarcerated at MSDF include extreme heat, poor ventilation, no access to outdoor recreation or sunlight, being locked down for over 20 hours a day, no in-person visits, and other abuses. All of this is for people who have not been convicted of new crimes and in most cases have not even been charged with new crimes.
It is time to close MSDF and reinvest the money saved to build safer, stronger, and healthier communities!