FIND ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON

Milwaukee County leads the state in the rate at which it sends
defendants to prison for low-level, non-violent, drug-related
offenses. Does this county feature a bigger share of hanging judges
than do other counties? Milwaukee County judges themselves don't see
it that way. They told researchers they hated relying on prisons so
heavily but lacked other options.

The state must give them those options. Wisconsin's practice of
putting large numbers of non-violent offenders behind bars is
wreaking all manner of havoc, as noted by a new study. It is
pauperizing the state, weakening inner city families and
neighborhoods, ruining the job prospects of many residents and making
hardened criminals out of low-level offenders.

The state is moving in the right direction but not fast enough. It
has set aside a pot of money for drug treatment in lieu of prison,
but it has failed to put sufficient funds in that pot. The study
recommends putting in an additional $22 million a year - advice the
state should heed.

The Washington, D.C.-based Drug Policy Alliance commissioned Justice
Strategies, a research organization, to do the study. The alliance is
working with WISDOM, a Wisconsin group that consists of 125
congregations from 15 religious denominations and that promotes
greater use of treatment and less use of imprisonment for drug users.

The study identified 2,900 current prison inmates with low-level,
non-violent offenses and sparse criminal records. Taxpayers are
keeping them in prison at a cost of $83 million a year. Treatment and
supportive services, in contrast, would cost taxpayers just $23
million a year and be much more effective in cutting recidivism.

The study notes that rates of illegal drug use are similar across
racial lines. Imprisonment rates vary drastically, however, for
non-violent drug offenses. The rate is four times that of whites for
American Indians, nine times that of whites for Latinos and 37 times
that of whites for African-Americans. Treatment instead of prison
would soften this harsh example of racial inequity.

Wisconsin leads the Midwest in per-capita expenditures for
corrections. Minnesota, for example, spends half as much as Wisconsin
does. Minnesota, which boasts the nation's lowest rate of repeat
offenses, relies more than does Dairyland on community-based
alternatives to prison, the study notes.

The practice of imprisoning non-violent drug offenders is decimating
the inner city, separating children from their parents, removing men
from families and giving many Wisconsinites records that put many
jobs out of reach - raising the chances that they will offend again.

Gov. Jim Doyle and Madison lawmakers should read and heed this research report.