Taxpayers, families, and communities are bearing the cost of Wisconsin’s outdated corrections policies, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Budget Project.
Wisconsin residents pay a high price in dollars for Wisconsin’s over-reliance on incarceration. State and local governments in Wisconsin spend 12% more on corrections per state resident than the national average, according to the report. Only 11 states spend more per state resident than Wisconsin.
But the cost in dollars only tells part of the story. The cost in terms of lost human potential also makes a compelling case for the need to reform Wisconsin’s criminal justice system. Incarcerating high numbers of people damages families and individuals, keeping them from reaching their full potential. The consequences of high rates of incarceration harm the economic stability of families and weaken the state’s economy.
Wisconsin locks up more people than most of the states around us. We have more people behind bars for our state size than Illinois, Iowa, or Minnesota. In fact, Wisconsin incarcerates more than twice as many people as Minnesota does. Among neighboring states, only Michigan has a higher incarceration rate than Wisconsin.
Communities of color in particular pay a high price for Wisconsin’s corrections policies. Wisconsin locks up a greater share of African-American men than any other state, making it difficult for those individuals to get jobs, support their families, and contribute to their communities after they are released. Wisconsin also puts a bigger share of Native American men behind bars than any other state.
Nationally, advocates from across the political spectrum have called for reforming state criminal justice systems as a way to both cut spending and reduce the harm incarceration inflicts on families. The new report from the Wisconsin Budget Project shows that the time is ripe for Wisconsin to reform our own system, by relying less on incarceration and more on other, less damaging approaches to promoting public safety.
Read the report here: Prison Price Tag: The High Cost of Wisconsin’s Corrections Policies
Tamarine Cornelius