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County Sheriff’s Trying to Spend Double their Overtime Budget
Milwaukee’s county sheriff’s office projects they will spend double their projected budget on overtime.
A report from the sheriff’s office states that “Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) estimates 2021 overtime to be $7,800,000 which is $3,892,860 over the 2021 adopted budget of $3,907,140 or 100% of budgeted dollars.”
Continue reading “County Sheriff’s Trying to Spend Double their Overtime Budget”
Prison Hurts All of Wisconsin.
Despite many cultural differences, Wisconsin’s prison system has a similar negative impact on people in both under-resourced rural communities and Milwaukee’s northside. Those who have been cut out of the jobs economy, who’ve been marginalized and neglected by political elites, business owners, and corporations, are more likely to struggle with addiction, despair, and violence. We know what comes next – they end up going to prison.
In prison, negligence, abuse, and confinement cause great and lasting harm. People then return with that trauma to the same struggling communities they were taken from. The addedhe stigma of a criminal record further removes them from economic opportunities. They become more likely to resort to crimes of survival, or of addiction and emotional distress. In this way, prison drives up crime. It contributes to a cycle of harmful behavior, of people hurting their neighbors. Continue reading “Prison Hurts All of Wisconsin.”
Union Supply Monopoly
Prisoners are isolated to ordering solely from union supply as a contracted vendor… I’m under the impression it violates the consumers protection act where we are to have price competitiveness and is at contrast with the reasons the doc initially cited as their reasons to start the four original vendors contracts in 2007 or so, which included wider selection and “price competitiveness”. Please advise … and stop this unjust overtaxing of loved ones and prisoners hard earnings especially where union charges way more than others, takes three times the wait to deliver and puts families on hold hours to place orders. Also, where prisoners earn 5¢ per hour and doc takes 50% of hat 5¢ for restitution even hough courts imposed 25% and hen turn around and take another 10% for release accounts. Who is criminal in his situation?!!
—Jose Soto #307830, prisoner at Waupun Correctional Institution
The Wisconsin DOC is working towards only allowing one vendor to provide essentials to their captives: Union Supply. There’s a whole host of issues that come along with this, not least of which being that monopolies are historically price-gougers and unreliable, because there is no competition, so they can proceed however they want and do whatever maximizes profits, disregarding the needs and rights of the people they’re doing business with. Continue reading “Union Supply Monopoly”
JFC Budget Testimony Highlights
We sifted through three long days of back-to-back two minute testimonies to pull out some highlight reels, which we’ll be sharing here. We also posted some testimonies to our instagram as they were happening, so follow us there to get more stuff.
First up, two minutes of fiery testimony given to the first hearing at UW-Whitewater.
Next, a longer video of people who spoke about decarceration and prisoner advocacy at the 3rd hearing at UW- Stout in Menomonie, WI. Continue reading “JFC Budget Testimony Highlights”
Governor Evers Ignores the People, Funds the Police.
Today, Governor Evers passed a law that gives money to police. It makes police and firefighters eligible for PTSD worker’s compensation.
Firefighters are fine. Cops are not. They are not workers and should not get worker compensation. The police are, and always have been the sworn enemies of the working class. They are the attack dogs of capitalism. When workers go on strike for labor protections, including worker’s compensation, it is the police who attack them and delay the passage of those laws. Continue reading “Governor Evers Ignores the People, Funds the Police.”
Judge Dorow: DOC has “trump” power over the courts
This article was sent to us by Ron Schroeder.
Probation & Parole agents have good reason to believe they have more power than a court – a chief judge said so.
Judge Jennifer R. Dorow is the chief judge of the 3rd Judicial Administrative District (Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Jefferson, and Dodge Counties). She also chairs a criminal justice council. In open court, she said the Department of Corrections has “trump” power over the courts. Continue reading “Judge Dorow: DOC has “trump” power over the courts”