Politicians from Milwaukee and across Wisconsin are making a mistake that will waste millions of dollars, endanger a generation of young people, and deepen Wisconsin’s commitment to mass incarceration. They are working to build an expensive new prison for young people. In 2011, youth held at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake managed to draw attention to atrocious conditions, staff violence, and widespread disregard for the health and safety of Wisconsin’s youth most in need of support. Staff and administrators at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake were caught abusing and exploiting children held in the facilities. They beat kids, pepper sprayed them, locked them in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Some staff were even caught being sexually inappropriate and drove youth to suicide and self-harm. Kids held in these facilities raised the alarm to their families, reporters, and officials. Eventually, their efforts led to many staff being charged, fired, or forced to resign, including the then head of the Department of Corrections. A class action lawsuit brought federal monitors, who continue to do regular assessments, finding ongoing unacceptable conditions in the prisons. Unfortunately, Wisconsin’s politicians responded by working to build another prison for kids. What should happen is that troubled kids could be held in existing county facilities, or even better, supported through much more successful mentoring and diversion programs. Constructing a new “improved” prison to “solve” the problem will encourage judges and prosecutors to engage in more aggressive charging and sentencing practices for youth. Advocates for the new youth prison claim it will be a smaller, more modern facility, and closer to home. There are benefits to prison being closer to home: visitation is easier, the cultural gulf between youth held in the prison and guards holding them is smaller, oversight by local officials and reporters is more likely. But conditions in existing Milwaukee facilities are horrific. Guards at the county jail and the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, who are recruited from the same population that would staff the proposed youth facility, abuse people in their care. They deprive people of basic necessities. They sometimes drive them to suicide, or kill them with egregious medical neglect. The majority of Wisconsinites do not love mass incarceration. We want leniency, especially when it comes to children facing abuse and suicide in prisons.
(The above is an edited version of an online letter Casa Maria signed onto recently.)
DON’S JOKES A little girl was asked to say grace at a meal with friends. “Oh,” she said, “I don’t know a prayer. Her Daddy then told her, “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?" Patient: Nurse, I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes. Nurse: Have you seen a doctor? No Just spots. One day the teacher asked her pupil who signed the Declaration of Independence, and of course, he didn’t know. The teacher asked him every day for a week but still, he couldn’t give the right answer. Finally, in desperation, she called the boy’s father to come and see her. She said to him, “Your boy won’t tell me who signed the Declaration of Independence” The father said to his son, “Come here, boy, and sit down.”? The boy duly did as he was told and then his dad said to him, “Now if you signed that stupid thing, just admit it so we can get out of here.” A new hair salon opened up for business right across the street from the old established hair cutters’ place. They put up a big bold sign which read: “WE GIVE SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS! ”Not to be outdone, the old Master Barber put up his own sign: “WE FIX SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS”
INTERESTING FACTS: A higher percentage of Wisconsin’s Black population is currently serving time in the state’s correctional system, more than any other state. Wisconsin's incarceration rate for its Black residents is more than 10 times higher than the white imprisonment rate. ----thesentencingproject.org
Wisconsin has the nation’s highest rate of incarceration for Native American males. The Wisconsin prison population has more than tripled since 1990. Wisconsin spends over $1.3 billion per year on the Department of Corrections. A few years ago, their budget passed the University of Wisconsin budget. ----ROC
Wisconsin More than 1 in 10 prisoners were homeless in the months before incarceration. For those with mental illness, the rate is closer to 1 in 5. ---Bread for the World
It costs much more to keep a person in prison than to provide drug treatment or to provide a diversion program. ----WISDOM
The UN declared that no prisoner should be held in solitary confinement for longer than 15 days, and that to do so constitutes torture. On a regular basis, Wisconsin still employs this practice for intervals much longer than 15 days, isolating prisoners for months, years and even decades. -WISDOM
LGBTQ+ people are severely overrepresented in the criminal justice system. 20% of youth in the juvenile justice system identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, gender nonconforming or transgender. -Lavender Rights Project
One in six transgender people have been incarcerated at some point in their lives. Nearly half of all trans black people have been incarcerated. -Lavender Rights Project Events:
Thurs. March 16 ---Anti-ROTC Vigil noon to 1pm at Marquette U. Library on Wisconsin Ave.
Thurs. March 23 ----Anti-Gun Vigil at Dunham’s Sports. 2550 S. 108 St. Guns produce violence and death.
Sat. May 6 ---Benefit Jam for Casa Maria 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Coffee House, 2717 E. Hampshire, Milwaukee. Bring your voices and instruments for a good time
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Last week I was walking in the woods. Everything was brown with occasional splashes of snow. My soul was searching for signs of Spring. Then on one hillside I spotted something green pushing through the brown leaves and snow. It was Skunk cabbage (lysichiton americanus). The plant gets its name from the odor it emits when fully opened. It is a lush plant that can outshine the Hosta plant when fully opened in the spring. It has a chemistry that creates its own heat which melts the snow around it. What a miracle this small plant is. When looking at it, one would never know the transformation that will happen. It is good to ponder the small miracles of nature around us. It might start us to believe in larger miracles. Like a smile, a kind word which can work magic in someone’s day. We might realize that reaching out with an open mind to an enemy can effect change also. Dialogue and an open mind might help world leaders find a way to resolve the war in Ukraine. To make an enemy into a friend is truly the greatest miracle. It would be a gift to the flora, fauna and our children. It might not seem possible but look at the many miracles in nature and what seems impossible can become possible. Peace, Roberta
(The above is an edited version of an online letter Casa Maria signed onto recently.)
DON’S JOKES A little girl was asked to say grace at a meal with friends. “Oh,” she said, “I don’t know a prayer. Her Daddy then told her, “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?" Patient: Nurse, I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes. Nurse: Have you seen a doctor? No Just spots. One day the teacher asked her pupil who signed the Declaration of Independence, and of course, he didn’t know. The teacher asked him every day for a week but still, he couldn’t give the right answer. Finally, in desperation, she called the boy’s father to come and see her. She said to him, “Your boy won’t tell me who signed the Declaration of Independence” The father said to his son, “Come here, boy, and sit down.”? The boy duly did as he was told and then his dad said to him, “Now if you signed that stupid thing, just admit it so we can get out of here.” A new hair salon opened up for business right across the street from the old established hair cutters’ place. They put up a big bold sign which read: “WE GIVE SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS! ”Not to be outdone, the old Master Barber put up his own sign: “WE FIX SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS”
INTERESTING FACTS: A higher percentage of Wisconsin’s Black population is currently serving time in the state’s correctional system, more than any other state. Wisconsin's incarceration rate for its Black residents is more than 10 times higher than the white imprisonment rate. ----thesentencingproject.org
Wisconsin has the nation’s highest rate of incarceration for Native American males. The Wisconsin prison population has more than tripled since 1990. Wisconsin spends over $1.3 billion per year on the Department of Corrections. A few years ago, their budget passed the University of Wisconsin budget. ----ROC
Wisconsin More than 1 in 10 prisoners were homeless in the months before incarceration. For those with mental illness, the rate is closer to 1 in 5. ---Bread for the World
It costs much more to keep a person in prison than to provide drug treatment or to provide a diversion program. ----WISDOM
The UN declared that no prisoner should be held in solitary confinement for longer than 15 days, and that to do so constitutes torture. On a regular basis, Wisconsin still employs this practice for intervals much longer than 15 days, isolating prisoners for months, years and even decades. -WISDOM
LGBTQ+ people are severely overrepresented in the criminal justice system. 20% of youth in the juvenile justice system identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, gender nonconforming or transgender. -Lavender Rights Project
One in six transgender people have been incarcerated at some point in their lives. Nearly half of all trans black people have been incarcerated. -Lavender Rights Project Events:
Thurs. March 16 ---Anti-ROTC Vigil noon to 1pm at Marquette U. Library on Wisconsin Ave.
Thurs. March 23 ----Anti-Gun Vigil at Dunham’s Sports. 2550 S. 108 St. Guns produce violence and death.
Sat. May 6 ---Benefit Jam for Casa Maria 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Coffee House, 2717 E. Hampshire, Milwaukee. Bring your voices and instruments for a good time
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Last week I was walking in the woods. Everything was brown with occasional splashes of snow. My soul was searching for signs of Spring. Then on one hillside I spotted something green pushing through the brown leaves and snow. It was Skunk cabbage (lysichiton americanus). The plant gets its name from the odor it emits when fully opened. It is a lush plant that can outshine the Hosta plant when fully opened in the spring. It has a chemistry that creates its own heat which melts the snow around it. What a miracle this small plant is. When looking at it, one would never know the transformation that will happen. It is good to ponder the small miracles of nature around us. It might start us to believe in larger miracles. Like a smile, a kind word which can work magic in someone’s day. We might realize that reaching out with an open mind to an enemy can effect change also. Dialogue and an open mind might help world leaders find a way to resolve the war in Ukraine. To make an enemy into a friend is truly the greatest miracle. It would be a gift to the flora, fauna and our children. It might not seem possible but look at the many miracles in nature and what seems impossible can become possible. Peace, Roberta