RELIGIOUS GROUPS TO DEMAND SWITCH FROM DRUG SENTENCES TO TREATMENT

In what is likely to be a show of forces Thursday, two interfaith
religious groups are traveling to Madison to urge the Legislature to
move swiftly toward adopting a drug policy based on treatment instead
of incarceration for non-violent offenders.

Loyd Hubbard, co-chair of the Treatment Instead of Prison, or TIP
campaign, said the Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope
and WISDOM will hold a news conference on the steps of the state
Capitol to urge legislators to pass a saner approach to fighting
addiction in Wisconsin.

Later that day, they hope to meet individually with legislators to
urge them to introduce two measures that offer non-violent offenders
alternatives to incarceration, Hubbard said.

WISDOM, a statewide congregation-based organization, and MICAH came to
legislators nearly three years ago to urge the Assembly to adopt its
TIP proposal. A bill introduced before the Legislature by former Sen.
Gary George two years ago died in committee.

For the past two years, state Sens. Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh) and
Gwendolynne Moore (D-Milwaukee) have been working on separate drafts
of legislation that would offer treatment instead of incarceration.
But the state Legislative Reference Bureau has not yet completed
either proposal.

With the current session drawing to a close soon, MICAH and WISDOM are
concerned that the Legislature has not made treatment instead of
incarceration a priority as other states have - a charge Roessler
vigorously disputed Tuesday.

"It's a long process, not a swift process," Roessler said. "It's a
deliberate process.

"Earnest, sincere and diligent work is being done. And there are ways
to help in the process, but I think that their timing is not helpful.
Their timing and efforts could be better placed," she said of the
demonstration at the Capitol.

Roessler's bill, the Addicted Offenders Accountability and Public
Safety Act, is aimed at reducing prison and jail populations by making
treatment available to non-violent offenders through a voluntary grant
system.