WANTING TO TRAIN INMATES JUST FIRST STEP
There Are Plenty Of Obstacles To Rehabilitating Prisoners.

Gov. Tommy Thompson's added emphasis on what he calls turning "bad
guys back into good guys" is getting initial good marks -- even from
some critics of the state's prison system.

But supporters and critics alike agree on one thing: Turning the goal
into reality is a long-time project, given a crowding problem that
shows no signs of abating.

"You don't turn around an oil tanker overnight," said John Huebscher,
executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference. The
conference, which represents the state's Catholic bishops, issued a
critical report last September that claimed the state's rehabilitation
efforts were in such a bad state that "half the prison population is
idle every day."

"Is it really sensible to think we can teach people to be good by
being bad to them?" the bishops asked.

Huebscher said last week he's encouraged by Thompson's State of the
State speech in January. The speech emphasized intensified reading
programs, targeted drug and alcohol treatment in Milwaukee County, and
more probation and parole agents in Milwaukee County.

"His speech reflects the need to change direction," Huebscher said. "I
think it's significant."

The governor's speech foreshadowed a report due in April from his task
force on community supervision -- another part of implementing the end
of parole and the arrival of so-called "truth in sentencing" that took
effect Dec. 31.

"We have 15,000 strong, robust individuals who could be doing a decent
job if they got the training. We're paying them $22,000 a year (the
cost of keeping a prisoner) not to do anything," Thompson told the
Wisconsin State Journal editorial board recently. "They're going to
get out. If we're going to let them out, let's have them drug-free,
alcohol-free, teach them how to read ... how to work."

But there are big hurdles:

The 83,000 people either in prison or released into the community
likely are saddled with alcohol or drug problems, a poor education or
a fractured family in addition to a criminal record.

A massive prison crowding problem is dogging the state's corrections
system.

The latest adult inmate count is at 20,240 and growing, and about
4,700 of them must be housed in out-of-state prisons because there's
simply no room at state lockups. Most of the increases in prison
dollars has gone to building and staffing prisons and feeding,
clothing and watching prisoners.

Another 63,680 offenders are on probation or parole. The number under
some form of community supervision is predicted to climb under revised
sentences that likely will stress imprisonment of violent criminals
and sex offenders over those who commit property crimes.

Still, Thompson sees the day in which criminals under the state's care
will not only be punished for their crimes but will also be educated
and trained so "we can turn today's criminals into productive members
of our work force."

To that end, Thompson proposed last month that:

$5 million of the Correction Department's $800 million annual budget
should be internally redirected to teach hundreds of inmates to read
well enough to fill out a job application.

A union official applauded the initiative but warned that prisons
won't be able to keep good teachers without pay boosts. "The literacy
programs sounds great, but I wonder how the administration will
implement any literacy initiative because correctional facilities are
having problems recruiting and retaining qualified teachers due to pay
inequities," said Mike Moore, director of the State Professional
Education & Information Council No. 1, which represents 750 teachers,
librarians and others in prisons around the state.

100 probation and parole agents be added in Milwaukee County, where
more than 40 percent of the state's inmates are sentenced. Thompson
estimated the added cost at $6 million a year but said that could be
pushed into the next budget.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers, however, are pushing
implementation of this measure now. A hearing could be held this week
in the Assembly Corrections Committee on a measure similar to
Thompson's proposal. In addition, Senate Democrats are pushing for
more money for assistant district attorneys, and the union
representing probation and parole agents is pushing for higher pay to
retain good agents.

An alternative drug treatment program in Milwaukee County that would
allow judges to sentence criminals with no prior record or weapon
offenses to treatment and classes where they could learn job and
parenting skills.

State Rep. David Travis, D-Madison, an architect of prison
rehabilitation programs, said the proposals look a lot like a
framework for renewal of the "intensive sanctions" program that was
effectively shelved because some of the participants committed
high-profile crimes. Travis predicted some form of intensive sanctions
will return.

"It's clear from a perspective of public safety in addition to
rehabilitation that many of these guys require very intensive scrutiny
in the community," Travis said. "What we can do is when they're in our
custody try to give them some education and work skills."

Thompson's Corrections Department chief, Jon Litscher, a former school
administrator, said the "ability to acquire skills" is critical to
stemming a tide of repeat offenders.

"I think education is the key to stability on the street," Litscher
said. "If they don't get the skills to stay on the street, all they
can do is re-offend."

Litscher said the Wisconsin system has had good rehabilitation
programs, but he conceded that the sheer numbers of inmates swamping
the system has made delivery of such services sporadic in recent years.

"The ability to deliver services has not increased proportionally to
the population," he said. "(The services) may not be ... as continuous
as people thought."

Thompson, who has presided over a prison building boom since he came
to office in 1987, declared last year that he would build no more
prisons. Yet, the leasing of a new privately built facility in Stanley
is "possible," said Thompson Executive Kevin Keane.

Keane said the tone of Thompson's recent State of the State speech
wasn't brand new but "the next step" in a years-old plan to deter
prisoners from crime once they're released.

Thompson first recruited industry to bring their factories behind
prison walls -- a concept that has had limited success because of
opposition from unions and the Legislature.

Next, he proposed 150-bed "workhouses" to bring prisoners with a year
left in their terms close to jobs on the outside. He said they'd
likely be sited in Waukesha County and somewhere in the Fox Valley.

And now comes the added emphasis on literacy, community supervision
and drug treatment.

"I haven't changed a bit for the last seven years -- let's get them to
work," Thompson said. "It's a complete continuum I'm trying to get set
up before I get done."