Wisconsin’s elected officials, including Governor Evers and state legislators, have once again failed to take meaningful action to overhaul the state’s broken and inhumane carceral system. The recently passed state budget ignores the deep harm caused by mass incarceration and falls far short of what is needed to address the humanitarian crisis unfolding inside Wisconsin’s prisons.
Hundreds of Wisconsinites made their voices clear during state budget hearings: it’s time to invest in health, not punishment. People across the state called for immediate action to improve conditions of confinement, reduce the prison population, close dangerous and outdated prisons, and shift resources into the communities most impacted by incarceration.
More than a decade ago, WISDOM presented a clear and practical blueprint for ending mass incarceration in Wisconsin. The refusal of policymakers to adopt these proven, common-sense decarceration strategies has brought us to the current state of emergency in our prisons. This failure is not an accident; it is a deliberate political choice.
The budget includes no plan to close Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI), despite overwhelming evidence that the facility is beyond repair. Instead, some legislators continue to push for more studies and planning tactics that will only delay justice while people continue to suffer and die behind bars. This is unacceptable.
Wisconsin does not need more studies. We need action.
Prisons like GBCI, Waupun Correctional Institution, and Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility are notorious for inhumane conditions and should have been shut down years ago. There is no justification for continuing to pour hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into maintaining or expanding a failed prison system.
The state must immediately commit to reducing the prison population by:
- Expanding treatment alternatives to incarceration,
- Commuting excessive and unjust sentences,
- Granting fair access to parole and early release, and
- Ending incarceration for technical or convictionless revocations.
Less than 3,000 people are currently incarcerated at GBCI, Waupun, and MSDF combined. These prisons could be emptied and closed within months. Doing so would not only alleviate human suffering but it would also free up critical resources.
Those resources must be reinvested in the communities most harmed by incarceration. That means funding living-wage jobs, stable and affordable housing, healthcare, treatment programs, educational opportunities, and violence prevention. That is how we build true public safety.
The path forward is clear: care, not cages. Communities, not prisons.
The time for excuses and delay is over. Wisconsin must take bold, immediate action now. Show your support and sign on to our petition to demand action to end the prison crisis and begin building a future rooted in dignity, equity, and justice for all.
In Solidarity,
Kina Collins
Interim Executive Director
WISDOM Wisconsin
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WISDOM
2821 N Vel Phillips Avenue, #217
Milwaukee, WI 53212
United States
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
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