Pubdate: Mon, 07 Feb 2005
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2005 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Phil Brinkman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DOYLE HOPES TREATMENT WILL SLOW INMATE INCREASE

Bigger Drug Effort Sought

Hoping to slow, if not reverse, the escalation of the state's prison 
population, Gov. Jim Doyle will propose in his next two-year budget to 
dramatically expand drug and alcohol treatment for criminal offenders and 
provide more services - and alternative punishments - for offenders outside 
of prison.

"I've always thought that the way you reduce the prison population is not 
to open the back door and let people out," Doyle said. "It's to try to have 
fewer people coming through the front door."

The Democratic governor will introduce his 2005-07 state budget on Tuesday. 
On Friday, he discussed details of the Corrections budget with the 
Wisconsin State Journal.

Some specifics The plan, which calls for an overall Corrections budget 
increase of 4.7 percent, would expand some programs Doyle and the 
Legislature initiated in the last budget and add several others.

Among other things, the budget would:

. Add intensive drug- and alcohol-treatment units at Racine Correctional 
Institution and Taycheedah Correctional Institution for women in Fond du 
Lac. When fully operational, the four-month programs would serve up to 522 
men annually at Racine and 120 women a year at Taycheedah, at a cost of 
$2.7 million for the two-year period.

. Expand the state's earned-released program to five more prisons. Under 
this program, judges declare certain offenders eligible for early release 
if they complete a six-month residential treatment program.

Inmates in the program now are housed at just two facilities: the 280-bed 
Drug Abuse Correctional Center in Winnebago and the 30-bed facility for 
women at Ellsworth in Union Grove - and has a waiting list of more than 1,200.

Doyle's budget would add 20 beds to the program by converting 40 beds at 
each of five facilities. The new units would all be at minimum-security 
prisons: Thompson in Deerfield; Oregon; Ellsworth; Kenosha; and Sherrer in 
Milwaukee.

The total cost is expected to be about $2 million, but the administration 
estimates that would be offset by $2.l million in savings from reduced 
return visits to prison.

. Add $1.7 million a year in spending on drug and alcohol services for 
offenders on probation or parole, more than doubling the current year's 
commitment of $1.2 million.

. Increase options for judges to order alternative sanctions other than a 
return to prison for people who violate the terms of their probation or 
parole. Those include funding for 130 beds in more halfway houses for 
high-risk offenders (up from about 470 today) and expanded use of 
electronic monitoring, combined with 314 more "transitional living 
placements" such as state-leased apartments for low-risk offenders.

The budget also would add six more "day reporting centers," central 
facilities to which offenders in the community may be ordered to report for 
treatment, counseling, job training or other services. The state operates 
two such centers in Dane and Racine counties. Altogether, the changes would 
cost about $3.1 million.

. Add 11 parole agents to increase supervision of high-risk offenders 
released from maximum-security prisons, and add about $1.8 million in 
contracted services to help paroled offenders reintegrate to society.

Advice of experts In all, Doyle's Corrections budget increases spending $83 
million over the next two years, to $1.86 billion, one of the smallest 
increases in Corrections in years. It anticipates the prison population, 
which has tripled in the past 15 years, will start to decline, from around 
22,000 today to about 21,277 two years from now.

The budget's emphasis on treatment, community supervision and alternative 
sanctions echoes the advice of numerous experts in a State Journal series 
on Wisconsin's correctional system last month.

Ed Latessa, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati 
and a frequent consultant to the state Department of Corrections, said the 
proposals appear to be "on the right track."

"We're not talking about letting people off," Latessa said. "We're talking 
about putting people in good, structured programs that can work. What is it 
about that that's soft on crime? We're going to put our dollars somewhere. 
We might as well get some return."

Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said the budget seeks to address the fact 
that an estimated 70 percent of those admitted to prison have some problem 
with drugs or alcohol.

"It's very important that we reach many more of those offenders ... before 
they're released back to the community," Frank said.

UW-Madison law professor Michael Smith said the programs sound promising 
but that lawmakers ought to insist on evaluating the programs to be sure 
they work.

"A good evaluation will tell you when a program is working, why and for 
whom," Smith said. "That would permit you to refine it to make it more 
effective."

State Rep. Garey Bies, R- Sister Bay, chairman of the Assembly Corrections 
and Courts Committee, said he was intrigued by the proposals and urged his 
Republican colleagues to "come to these ideas with an open mind."

Protecting the public needs to remain the primary goal of Corrections, Bies 
said. But often that means addressing the underlying substance- abuse 
problems that contribute to many crimes.

"I would take a real good, hard look at these and see if we can make them 
work," he said, "because we just can't keep building prisons."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager