Pubdate: Sat, 08 Mar 2003
Source: Post-Crescent, The (Appleton,  WI)
Copyright: 2003 The Post-Crescent
Contact:  http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1443

DOYLE'S PAROLE PROPOSAL HELPFUL IN SEVERAL WAYS

A provision of Gov. Jim Doyle's 2003-05 budget proposal looks like a good 
first step in overhauling the state's corrections system.

Under the proposal, about 400 non-violent offenders would be sent not to 
one of the state's typical prisons, but to a rehabilitation program at a 
prison workhouse in Sturtevant, near Racine.

Offenders who violate their probation of parole can be sent to what the 
budget proposal calls "intensive programming," which would include a 
work-release program, treatment for drug or alcohol abuse and community 
service, for 90 days.

The proposal addresses two important goals: saving the state money and 
actually trying to rehabilitate offenders.

Money would be saved by sending these parole violators to the proposed 
program instead of to prison. Corrections costs skyrocketed in the 1990s, 
as get-tough-on-crime initiatives sent non-violent offenders to jail more 
often.

Wisconsin's corrections budget is now about $1 billion a year, which is 
four times more than in 1990.

We now have a prison population of about 21,000, three times that of 
Minnesota's prison population.

With the state facing a two-year budget deficit of $3.2 billion, some of 
the money spent on housing non-violent offenders in prison could be better 
spent on programs such as education and health and human services. And some 
of it could be better spent on helping offenders become productive members 
of society.

The point of sentencing is supposed to be punishment and rehabilitation. 
We' ve got the punishment part of that down cold, but now we're finding 
that maybe we can't afford it to this extent with our current budgets.

Practicality is one reason to consider diversion programs that include 
rehabilitation as an option for some non-violent offenders, but they also 
would help our future budgets.

If rehabilitation efforts can help reduce the number of repeat offenders 
who land back in prison, our corrections costs can be reduced even more.

Doyle's proposal affects a small number of parolees. But it represents the 
right idea to turn around our reliance on prisons, which ultimately feeds 
itself and drains the state's finances.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens