THOMPSON OKS END TO PAROLE

3,000 New Beds Urged To Handle Increase In Prisoners

Madison -- With the stroke of his pen Monday, Gov. Tommy Thompson put an
end to parole in Wisconsin by signing the politically popular
truth-in-sentencing bill into law.

What happens next is an open question, but one criminologist said the state
should brace itself for a boom in the already-soaring inmate population.

"It's going to mean increased costs and increased prisons," said Walter
Dickey, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and former state
corrections chief. "Contrary to what an awful lot of people say, we're
going to realize a boom in prisoners in the short run."

In fact, the ink on Thompson's signature was barely dry when Rep. Scott
Walker (R-Wauwatosa) called for 3,000 more prison beds to house state
prisoners.

When the Legislature begins work in January on the next budget, Walker
said, more funding should be approved to send 3,000 additional inmates to
private prisons out of state.

"Planning ahead for the next budget and getting these beds approved means
that we'd have the foresight to avoid a prison space crisis in the year
2000," Walker said.

Wisconsin has 16,139 inmates and a prison system built to hold just more
than 10,000 prisoners. The state has avoided a crisis by renting county
jail cells in Texas and federal prison bunks in Minnesota. More recently,
offenders have been shipped to a private prison in Tennessee.

Thompson signed the bill in Appleton, saying the law rights the scales of
justice for law-abiding citizens.

"The people of this state can take comfort in knowing that when a judge
sentences a criminal to 10 years in prison, he will serve the entire 10
years, not one day less," Thompson said.

Thompson also signed into law the so-called "chemical castration" bill. The
measure allows treatment of certain sex offenders with drugs, such as
Lupron or Depo Provera, to render them impotent. A court could order such
treatment as a condition of an offender's release from prison.

The truth-in-sentencing legislation, which both houses of the Legislature
approved overwhelmingly, means no parole for anyone committing a felony on
or after its effective date of Dec. 31, 1999. Felons as of that date would
serve their entire prison sentences behind bars.

Opponents argued that truth in sentencing would boost the state corrections
budget by $300 million. Thompson and other proponents described the parole
system as a sham and argued that a net savings would result if criminals
were kept behind bars, unable to commit new crimes.

Early in the debate, Thompson and Corrections Secretary Michael Sullivan
said it was impossible to estimate the cost of the proposal because they
had no way of predicting how judges would react to the law.

Judges now add years to sentences, knowing that criminals can get out early
on parole, Thompson and Sullivan maintained. If judges know parole is no
longer possible, they might give shorter sentences.

But that has not happened in Illinois, which enacted truth in sentencing
three years ago. Only in rare cases have judges imposed lesser sentences,
according to a recent preliminary report from that state's
truth-in-sentencing commission.

"That's the experience in most places," Dickey said, adding that he
expected Wisconsin judges to continue sentencing as they have.

He added: "I've talked to so many judges in the past six months, and their
basic attitude is virtually all the same: 'Why should we be the courageous
ones? Nobody else is. So why should we lower our sentences and take the
heat?' I think you'll see very slight modifications in sentences, but I
think in the run of cases -- probably not."

Wisconsin's inmate population will surge within a year or two of the law's
effective date, Dickey said.

Currently, 58% of all new prisoners have sentences of four years or less.
With parole, they are out in two years or less.

"I expect them to be getting the same sentences, and they're going to do
the full sentence," Dickey said. "So if they start doing the full sentence,
you're going to see in two, three, four years, that bulge of what were
parole releases."

The new law will:

Set a sentencing structure consisting of a prison term and extended
supervision. A felon would serve the entire prison term ordered by a judge.
Once the prison term is served, the offender would be released under
supervision for a period matching at least 25% of the prison term.

Increase the maximum sentences for violent offenses other than murder.
Instead of 40 years, a Class B felon could be sentenced to up to 60 years.

End time off for good behavior. Inmates who obey prison rules will go free
on their release date, no sooner, and sentences will be extended for unruly
inmates.

Provide for a commission to study the criminal code with a goal of making
the punishment fit the crime. The commission faces an April 30, 1999,
deadline for recommendations on overhauling the code. The Legislature then
could act on the recommendations. Failure to act would not stop truth in
sentencing from taking effect.

Encourage additional funding for prevention of child abuse and neglect,
equal to 1% of the entire budget for the Department of Corrections during
the next two years.

Under the current system, most inmates become eligible for discretionary
parole after serving a quarter of their sentences. If they are denied
discretionary parole, they are automatically released when they serve
two-thirds of their sentences, their so-called "mandatory release" dates.

The new law ends discretionary parole and mandatory release but does not
abolish the Parole Commission. The parole system would continue for those
already imprisoned and those convicted of offenses committed before Dec.
31, 1999.