SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/2OuIPW0

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.

SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/2OuIPW0

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.

SIGN PETITION: https://bit.ly/2OuIPW0