COMMENTARY: STATE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH PRISON PROBLEM

The State of Wisconsin is facing a crisis: a prison-and-jail-overcrowding,
taxpayers-spending-too-much-on-corrections,
too-many-offenders-recommitting-crimes-after-release type of crisis. This
crisis is the result of an unsatisfactory correctional system -a system that is
not addressing and treating the core problem that drives many offenders into
prison.

Drug and alcohol addicted offenders are entering and re-entering prisons and
jails, and will continue to do so until we stop this cycle.

Currently, two-thirds of the 23,000 people in Wisconsin's prisons are made up
of inmates who have drug or alcohol abuse problems. Wisconsin needs to provide
"corrective" treatment while holding criminals accountable for their actions.

Science-based research shows that treatment is cheaper and more effective than
incarceration in dealing with alcohol and drug dependent offenders.

In an effort to save the state and its counties millions of dollars while
providing treatment to those who desperately need it, I am proposing the
Addicted Offenders Accountability and Public Safety Act.

My proposal aims to lower inmate populations, reduce recidivism, lower the
number of victims of crime and increase public safety. This legislation creates
a voluntary grant program for pilot counties to establish or expand programs
offering drug and alcohol treatment options for non-violent offenders with
immediate accountability sanctions and treatment for the whole person.

For nearly two years, I have consulted with various statewide groups, judges,
district attorneys, public defenders, law enforcement agents, and drug and
alcohol treatment providers to capture the essential general criteria for
effective treatment alternatives that work and help keep communities safe.

Throughout my contacts, it has become clear that counties are eager to develop
creative, effective and accountable local programs which lead to former
offenders becoming taxpaying, productive community members.

Last week I convened a meeting with the Secretary of Corrections Matthew Frank,
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services Helene Nelson,
the Office of Justice Assistance staff, Governor Jim Doyle's policy staff, and
a staff member from the office of state Sen. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, to focus
on fine-tuning this proposal. Our next step is to identify treatment
alternative funding within existing state and federal resources for the
start-up cost of this program. Future costs are expected to be offset by
reductions in correctional costs.

Let me be clear: We must not and will not allow our state to divert dangerous
individuals. The time is now for the Addicted Offenders Accountability and
Public Safety Act to be passed and implemented in Wisconsin.

This bill is a partial solution to our burgeoning inmate population and may be
an answer to reducing the number of drug and alcohol-related offenses in the
state.

We must move forward to address and treat the real problems in the correctional
system. I am hopeful that the Addicted Offenders Accountability and Public
Safety Act will accomplish this smart and safe solution.