Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/department-of-corrections/)
Offenders, many in rural areas, say they have been jailed due to technical problems with bracelets; some experts question value of lifetime monitoring.
Courts are wrestling with whether electronic monitoring is too intrusive; meanwhile, Europe uses the technology sparingly over civil-rights concerns.
Ten percent of offenders scramble to find places to plug in bracelets, some cut them off, and local laws make it hard for released sex offenders to find housing.
Robert S. Gable and his twin brother invented one of the first monitoring systems for criminal offenders; he is dismayed by how they are used today.
Prisoners recount suicide attempts, mental harm and lack of services in solitary confinement; former Waupun psychologist describes harsh treatment of inmates.
When he returned from a medical leave in early 2016, psychologist Bradley Boivin discovered a troubling pattern among Waupun Correctional Institution inmates who had been held in solitary confinement. Thirteen of his patients’ mental health classifications had been changed without Boivin’s knowledge — and in his opinion, without proper assessment.
LaRon McKinley, who spent 28 years in administrative confinement, says the state needs to return to rehabilitation and end long-term solitary confinement
The state Department of Corrections is force feeding at least three inmates as a hunger strike aimed at ending a form of solitary confinement that can go on for years — even decades — continues for a third week.
Colorado’s decision to curtail the use of solitary confinement — which the state of Wisconsin has begun to do — offers lessons for the Badger State that its former prisons chief, Rick Raemisch, is uniquely positioned to offer.
Wisconsin is part of a growing nationwide movement to adopt trauma-informed care, an approach that helps people identify and overcome negative childhood experiences. The approach is being used to improve mental health, provide social services and address a wide range of criminal justice problems.
Critics charge that a trauma-informed care approach led to security breakdowns at Wisconsin’s two juvenile prisons; advocates say both facilities failed to fully implement the program
Six Democratic Wisconsin lawmakers have written the state Department of Corrections demanding action regarding allegations of abuse of inmates by guards at Waupun Correctional Institution.