WE NEED BETTER SCHOOLS, NOT PRISON

One of the most influential members of the state Legislature is talking
about the need to build another prison in Wisconsin.

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, co-chairman of the budget-writing Joint
Finance Committee, noted last week that the state's prisons were at 132
percent capacity.

"I don't think creating more beds is out of the question right now," says
Fitzgerald, R-Juneau. "Building a prison, I think, that's something that
has to be considered, something that has to be on the table." Oh, that's rich.

At the same time majority Republicans are pushing for a tax freeze that
probably would force more districts to shut down schools - in addition to
cutting programs, laying off teachers and increasing class sizes - one of
their party leaders wants us to be more open-minded about adequately
housing criminals.

Yes, we need to have prisons. Not every crook in the state can be safely
rehabilitated in the community.

But do we really need another one, at a cost of millions of taxpayer
dollars? A state Department of Corrections official says no.

"We believe ... we will see a stabilization of our prison population
without a new prison," responded Rick Raemisch, deputy secretary of
corrections, who noted the capacity statistic is based on one inmate per
cell. "Let's stop building our way out of this problem, because we can't."
In effect, Raemisch makes the same argument against prison building that
tax-freeze proponents make against Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed big spending
increase for public education. Republicans are fond of saying you can't
just throw money at schools to make them better.

That might be true - a Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance study shows that some
districts have improved test scores while spending less per pupil than the
state average. But if the state's going to start flinging cash, most of us
would rather see the money used on creating a better life for children than
building more space for inmates.

Besides, if taxpayers want schools to get more creative to save money, they
certainly would want the criminal justice system to be just as efficient.

Doyle's budget proposal has its flaws, but it would expand the authority of
judges and probation and parole agents to order alternative sanctions for
offenders who violate the terms of their supervision, providing more
halfway houses and residential drug and alcohol treatment programs,
according to The Associated Press.

Wood County recently found a creative and what seems to be a successful way
to steer drug and alcohol abusers off a path that often leads to prison.
The county's Drug Court uses a reward and team system to keep close track
of offenders, provide regular counseling and treatment and turn their lives
around.

More and more, police are keeping track of criminals through electronic
monitoring systems that cost far less than prison.

To be fair, not all Republicans are as eager as Fitzgerald to consider
pouring more taxpayer resources into prison construction. The other
co-chairman of the Legislature's finance committee, Rep. Dean Kaufert of
Neenah, calls support for a new prison "a pretty big leap for me right
now." Not only that, but it would be a huge leap in the wrong direction.