SPRING VOTE SOUGHT ON JAILING FIRST-TIME DRUG LAW OFFENDERS

Should first-time drug offenders in Dane County spend time behind bars?

Several County Board supervisors want to put the question to voters
in April as an advisory referendum, hoping to reduce the number of
drug offenders sentenced to jail time and instead offer education,
treatment and rehabilitation.

Supervisor Ashok Kumar of Madison introduced a resolution at Thursday
night's County Board meeting.

As proposed, the question on the spring ballot would read: "Should
Dane County sentence first-time, nonviolent drug offenders to
treatment and rehabilitation programs rather than jail terms?"

Kumar gained support for the resolution from two supervisors who
represent districts in Madison, Richard Brown and Shelia Stubbs. Both
Brown and Stubbs are African-American and said that the
African-American population in Dane County suffers the most under
current drug laws.

The idea will face resistance in some circles.

"I don't support this, and I hope it goes down in flames," said
conservative Supervisor Dennis O'Loughlin, who said he was critical
not because of the jail population it would affect, but because he is
against the idea of the board or the public acting as the judiciary.

"Ours is the legislative side of business, not the judicial side,"
O'Loughlin said. "We are not judges, we are not the district
attorney, so why have an advisory referendum?"

County Board Chairman Scott McDonell said it's a complex issue.

"Maybe this issue isn't well-suited to being on a referendum,"
McDonell said. "We do a pretty decent job now of diverting people
with small-time drug possession away from jail."

Stubbs said she hoped the resolution would have broad-based support
in the community so drug offenders could get the help they need and
not end up in jail.

"More African-Americans are sentenced to jail because of drug
offenses than for any other reason," Stubbs said. "We need to break
the cycle of putting people into jail."

Kumar said the intent of the resolution isn't just to keep first-time
nonviolent drug users out of jail, but first-time nonviolent drug
sellers as well.

"I personally believe they shouldn't be locked up, because they
deserve rehabilitation, too," Kumar said of first-time drug sellers.
"In Dane County, the No. 1 offense why African-Americans are behind
bars is carrying (drugs) with the intent to sell."

Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said the county sends
very few first-time drug users to jail, but he'd have some
reservations if drug enforcement policy changed to preclude
first-time dealers from jail time.

"We have a sensible drug policy now," Blanchard said. "We have one of
the leading Drug Court programs in the state and, in cases of drug
possession where there's no other activity going on, those offenses
frequently do not result in jail.

"But, one could also be arrested for the first time as a cocaine
dealer, so there's a lot packed into that phrase" of the referendum.

A recently released report titled "And Justice For Some" showed
Wisconsin led the nation in incarceration rates for black adults, a
factor that Brown wants to change.

"People of color in Dane County have long been victims of drug
enforcement policies," Brown said. "It's time to go to the public and
find a solution."

O'Loughlin said Dane County has many "alternatives to incarceration"
programs to keep law breakers, including drug offenders, out of jail
already, so legislation keeping first-time offenders out of jail
isn't necessary.

The resolution will go through committees for action before coming up
for a vote by the full board.

County Clerk Bob Ohlsen said if the resolution is approved by the
board and signed by County Executive Kathleen Falk by Feb. 19, it
would be within the time frame to make it onto the April 3 ballot.

Stubbs said sending first-time offenders to jail is the easy way to
deal with the problem of drug use, but it doesn't work.

"This affects me," Stubbs said. "I'm an African-American woman, and I
want to help save my community. If we are telling two out of three
young men in my community 'you are not going to make it,' it's not fair.

"It should be alarming to anyone living in Wisconsin to see what
percentage of minorities are in jail."

The African-American population in Wisconsin is 6 percent. In Dane
County, the population is 4.3 percent. The National Council on Crime
and Delinquency reported 18.4 percent of incarcerated youths in
Wisconsin prisons are African-American.