“Conditions of Confinement” Package Would Require Prison and Jail Access, Free Communications, Hot Showers, Access to Sunlight and Outdoors, Among Other Protections
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Today, gathering at Clas Plaza in front of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-19) was joined by Rep. Darrin Madison (D-10), Sen. Chris Larson (D-7), Rep. Francesca Hong (D-76), Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski, the ACLU of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Andron Lane to announce a revamped and updated Conditions of Confinement bill package. The bill package was developed in close consultation with these advocacy organizations, but also with people who are currently or formerly incarcerated in Wisconsin – and their loved ones who’ve been forced to navigate the state’s inhumane, overcrowded prison and jail systems.
The press conference was held in lieu of a tour of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, which was cancelled last week, on very short notice, by Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections. The bill package includes mandatory oversight access for elected officials reflecting ongoing concerns with transparency and access to facilities.
The package’s major changes include legislation requiring the Department of Correction to provide free communications, including video calls, addressing one of the biggest, most expensive barriers incarcerated people face in staying connected to their communities.
Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-19) issued the following statement:
“During my time as both a County Supervisor and a State Representative, I have heard many promises from the Department of Corrections and Governor Tony Evers on improving the abysmal conditions in our overcrowded prisons. But I have seen little action to back that up.
Today, we planned to tour the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, one of the many facilities under the DOC’s care that fails to meet basic standards of decency and humanity. That tour was cancelled and rescheduled for an unspecified later time. We should not have to fight to get access to these facilities that we already oversee as elected officials – this bill package addresses that lack of access to Wisconsin’s jails and prisons, but it should already be reasonably granted. Instead, here we are.
Our Conditions of Confinement package also contains basic protections that most people in Wisconsin never have to think twice about: access to sunlight, access to the outdoors, regular hot showers. It also requires the free provision of services and goods that prisoners in Wisconsin, right now, must work at pennies an hour to earn, including communications with the outside world and menstrual products.
The root of the problem is obvious, though: we are imprisoning too many people, for too long, for too many crimes. But improving conditions in our prisons is a moral imperative, and it will give many people a better start as they return to their communities. I am proud to follow the leadership of WISDOM Wisconsin, dream.org, Andron Lane, and many others with first hand experience of these systems – it’s now on the legislature, and Governor Evers, to finally act.
