STATE CUTTING RANKS OF INMATES HELD ELSEWHERE

Prisoners More Likely To Rebuild Lives Near Home, Some Say

Madison - The number of Wisconsin prisoners held in out-of-state
institutions has been cut dramatically and by summer should be down to 500
- - about one-tenth of the 2000 figure.

A recent state Department of Corrections report puts the number of
out-of-state inmates at 1,590, compared with 2,969 at this time last year.
In late 2000, the figure topped 5,000, hitting its peak.

Holding inmates in private, for-profit facilities hundreds of miles away is
cheaper, but corrections officials say prisoners have a better shot at
staying straight when they are released if they are kept near their homes.

"Family connections, or some sort of support network, is very important to
the rehabilitation of inmates," department spokesman Bill Clausius said,
adding that family visits "remind them of how they need to change their lives."

The state pays the Corrections Corporation of America $50 a day per inmate
for the prisoners it holds in Oklahoma and southwestern Minnesota. Housing
an inmate at a state facility costs $67 a day.

If Wisconsin brings back all of the 1,590 prisoners now held out of state,
it would cost taxpayers about $9.9 million more a year.

But Clausius said: "The social costs are never calculated in those costs.
The goal here is to reduce the level of crime in this state and have less
criminals."

Welcomed change

Former inmate Keith Thomas of Madison was glad to hear of the trend.
Thomas, who has done time for robbery and other crimes committed in
Wisconsin, served part of a recent five-year sentence in prisons in
Tennessee and Oklahoma.

The out-of-state facilities have more problems with drugs, gangs and sexual
contact between inmates and guards, he said. Drug treatment and job
programs are much better in Wisconsin prisons than in the out-of-state
facilities, he said.

"I'm not an advocate of the Wisconsin prison system, but at the same time,
most of the people in a private prison can't wait to get back to
Wisconsin," said Thomas, who started a company last year to help felons
reintegrate into society when they are released.

Clausius disputed Thomas' claims about the out-of-state facilities, saying
the Wisconsin Department of Corrections regularly checks them. Similar
vocational and drug programs are offered at both in-state and out-of-state
institutions, though the Wisconsin offerings are broader, Clausius said.

Wisconsin started sending some inmates to county jails in Texas in 1996 as
prisons here filled up. Prisoners then were moved into the Corrections
Corporation facilities in several states.

The recent openings of Stanley Correctional Institution and two workhouses
allowed the state to bring more inmates back to Wisconsin, Clausius said.
Next month, a 900-bed medium-security prison in New Lisbon and a secure
drug-treatment facility in Chippewa Falls will open, allowing the state to
return more prisoners here.

The state is also housing more prisoners in rented cells from county jails
in Wisconsin. That decision was made after Corrections Corporation boosted
its rates, Clausius said.

More hope, better treatment

"This is what makes life livable in prison, the connections with the
community," said the Rev. Joseph Ellwanger, a former pastor at Cross
Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. "It keeps the hopes up and the determination
to live life meaningfully when they get out. If they lose that
determination, they become bitter and recidivism rates go up."

Prisoners are treated better at state-run facilities, said Barb Rowe of the
Madison-based non-profit Task Force on Money, Education and Prisons.

"The big problem (with private prisons) is they're obviously more
interested in profit than in taking care of people," Rowe said.

Clausius disagreed.

"It's true they're designed to make their investors money, but on the other
hand, the safety and security of the inmates has never been a problem," he
said. "We have monitors to make sure that's the case."