Contact:
Melissa Miller, 202-875-9188
miller@dga.net
According to a new report by Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Walker Administration does not have current information on nearly 3,000 Wisconsin sex offenders. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that 2,735 people convicted of sex crimes in Wisconsin are considered “non-compliant,” meaning they have failed to update their address, employer, or other key information with the state.
One registered sex offender with a history of non-compliance was recently was charged with assaulting a 13 year old boy, prompting state lawmaker Sondy Pope to request this Legislative Fiscal Bureau report.
And this isn’t the first time Walker and his administration have come under fire for mishandling criminal issues in Wisconsin—he refused to even visit the state’s youth prison at the center of a massive abuse scandal.
Read excerpts below or the full story HERE:
Wisconsin corrections officials don’t have current info for nearly 3,000 sex offenders
MADISON – State corrections officials don’t have current information for nearly 3,000 people convicted of sexual crimes, a new state analysis shows.
Of the more than 25,000 offenders on the state’s Sex Offender Registry, 2,735 are considered noncompliant as of Aug. 20 — which could mean the offender has reported a false address to the Department of Corrections or they haven’t updated their place of employment with the state, among other violations.
Among the offenders who are noncompliant, 308 have absconded — or are refusing to keep in touch with DOC agents, according to a recent Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis.
“I just find it pretty outrageous and unacceptable that we have thousands of sex offenders unaccounted for,” said Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Cross Plains, who requested the analysis.
[…]
Pope, who sits on the Assembly Corrections Committee, requested the breakdown before a registered sex offender from Lincoln County with a history of noncompliance was charged with allegedly touching the genitals of a 13-year-old boy, offering to perform oral sex on him and trying to kiss the boy several times.
“I think the fact that a child was assaulted is an indication that harm is being done,” Pope said about the case. “This is not a fabricated concern.”
[…]
Pope says Walker should get his own house in order.
“I watch what Governor Walker is doing to Tony Evers and I think goodness me,” Pope said. “Here you sit with 3,000 sex offenders unaccounted for and what are you doing?”
Pope said the number of sex offenders not in compliance with state law is another example of Walker’s inattention to corrections issues in Wisconsin.
“He won’t even visit Lincoln Hills,” Pope said, referring to the state’s youth prison that has been under investigation for alleged abuse of juvenile inmates for three years.
