CHURCH GROUP TO PUSH FOR TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

Plan Targets Non-Violent, First-Time Drug Offenders

The 14 congregations that make up Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied
for Hope plan to unveil a proposal next week to revise the state's criminal
code: They want a change in sentencing laws that will send non-violent,
first-time drug offenders to treatment programs instead of prison.

"The basic point is people with addictions need treatment and not prison,"
said the Rev. Joseph Ellwanger, a member of MICAH's drug and alcohol
treatment committee. "It's treatment and not prisons that will return them
whole to their families and their communities as productive citizens.

"We believe we have a message that even those who are fiscally and
politically conservative can support."

Each November, MICAH convenes its annual meeting to announce goals for the
coming year. Last year, it issued a call for a change in immigration laws.
In 1999, it was a campaign to crack down on violent crime and homicides.

Already, the proposal for treatment instead of jail has a small but
influential core of supporters. State Sen. Gary George (D-Milwaukee) has
agreed to sponsor the legislation for the change in the criminal code,
although the bill has not yet been drafted.

Other members of the Milwaukee legislative delegation, including Sen.
Gwendolynne Moore and Rep. Antonio Riley, both Democrats, also are
supporting the proposal.

Reps. Scott Walker and Dan Vrakas, both Republicans, have indicated that
they're "interested in addressing substance abuse problems of those who are
convicted of crimes" in Wisconsin.

But almost all agree that given the state's get-tough approach to crime,
including the increasing number of prisons here, a bill that seeks
treatment for drug offenders as opposed to prison may not play well with
voters or their representatives.

Nevertheless, MICAH and others who support elements of the proposal believe
there is evidence the political winds are shifting their way after a
30-year trend in Wisconsin and elsewhere toward ever-tougher criminal laws.

In July, California enacted into law Proposition 36, a voter-backed
initiative that mandates treatment instead of prison for first- and
second-time offenders who use or possess drugs.

The logic behind the new law for many voters was simple: It promised to
reduce the number of inmates in California's costly prison system, the
nation's largest. Prison officials in California say there are signs it may
be succeeding. In September, the number of inmates in California had fallen
since July 1 by 1,900, to 159,000.

Similar laws that call for treatment instead of incarceration are in place
in Arizona and New Mexico.

MICAH hopes to convince legislators that there is virtue in revising
Wisconsin's criminal code for non-violent drug offenders.

George and Moore, both early converts, plan to use the same arguments that
supporters of Proposition 36 employed in California.

"This is both an issue of humanity and civility as it is an issue of
economics," said Dave Begel, an aide to George. "The two things that drive
the state budget are spending on corrections and spending on education.

"If we can find a cost-effective way of dealing with a percentage of people
who are sent to prison for drug offenses - some kind of diversion that
ensures the public safety and provides for punishment but also helps them
get out of the lives that they're in - it seems to me it's worth exploring."

There are more than 20,000 men and women serving time in Wisconsin's penal
system, nearly three times as many as there were a decade ago, according to
the state Department of Corrections.

In Milwaukee County, the 165% increase in new prison sentences for
African-Americans was primarily the result of drug convictions, said Pamela
Oliver, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

MICAH will make a case at its Nov. 15 meeting that its proposal is far less
expensive than incarcerating non-violent drug offenders. The meeting is at
7 p.m. in Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 3022 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Riley said he had not yet seen MICAH's proposal or held discussions with
the organization about its merits.

But he said that contrary to the state's conservative attitude toward
crime, "there's a growing number of members on both sides of the aisle" who
might support changes in the criminal code for non-violent drug offenders.