FALK URGES BEEFED-UP PROBATION PROGRAM

She Says Releasing Non-Violent Offenders Would Save Prison Costs

Wisconsin should spend a little more on structured probation programs to
save a lot on spiraling prison costs, Kathleen Falk, a Democratic candidate
for governor, said Tuesday.

Non-violent offenders facing two years or less in prison should be
considered for diversion into a beefed-up probation program, in which drug
treatment and other help would be offered, Falk said in an interview and in
a speech.

She suggested doubling the $1,600 average that Wisconsin now spends per
probationer annually to enhance programs aimed at helping the least
hardened criminals steer clear of more trouble. That would still be far
less than the $22,500 average yearly cost of imprisoning someone in
Wisconsin, she said.

If 15% of criminals facing up to two years behind bars were put in such
programs, the net savings for the state would reach $7 million starting in
2004 and grow to a total of $75 million over four years as judges picked
probation instead of prison for more offenders, she said.

"With this targeted group, we have the opportunity to turn their lives
around," said Falk, 50, who has held the elective post of Dane County
executive since 1997.

Falk, one of four announced Democrats in next year's governor's race, said
she knows critics might seize on the proposal as soft on crime. But she
disagreed.

"Anybody with a violent crime is going to do the time," she said. Offenders
chosen for the enhanced probation program would have access to drug
treatment and other programs, but if they failed to complete tasks ordered
by a sentencing judge offenders would automatically go to prison.

Her prison pitch was part of a larger set of crime prevention proposals,
that included general support for child care, early education, truancy and
after-school programs. Without some shift in emphasis, corrections costs -
now at more than $1 billion in the two-year state budget - will soar to
unsustainable levels, especially in light of the state's projected budget
shortfall of up to $1.3 billion, Falk said.

"Unless we change these trends, the prognosis for the future is a bankrupt
system at the state level," she said.

State Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa), chairman of the Assembly Committee
on Corrections and the Courts, said that Falk's diversion idea had some
merit and that a similar pilot program for up to 50 offenders had been
approved for Milwaukee County.

However, any large-scale program likely would generate concern from many
judges and unless they support the idea it won't sail, Walker said.

Walker also questioned whether many truly non-violent offenders go to
prison. A closer look at rap sheets often finds that some offenders
convicted on a drug or theft count, for example, may also have had
allegations of other violent acts that were dismissed as part of a plea
deal, he said.

With the huge budget shortfall the state is facing, it also would be
difficult to persuade lawmakers to agree to increase spending on programs
in the short term in the hope of lower prison costs in the long run, Walker
said.

Gov. Scott McCallum was busy in budget meetings and unavailable for
comment, said spokesman Tim Roby. State Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher
declined to comment on the proposal.

Other announced Democratic candidates for governor - U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett,
state Sen. Gary R. George and Attorney General James Doyle - also were
unavailable.