Very Early Spin and a Look at Prison Overcrowding

Between my real job and my guest hosting gig on the Early Spin, I realize blogging has been a bit scarce this week.

There's a lot more prep work to a radio show than you would imagine and it's cut into computer time...

In any event, I was able to talk about blogging, just in passing, this morning. I gave a shout out to a few fellow bloggers whose sites I regularly visit and from which I gleaned material this week. Sorry that I missed mentioning many of you.

Tomorrow's show is shaping up.

We'll be following on up the case of the two missing boys and the convenience store shooting in Milwaukee where eyewitnesses have eluded police.

And, at 7:05, I'll talk to State Senator Scott Fitzgerald about his concerns regarding over crowding.

Hope you get a chance to listen in.

Prison Overcrowding a Ticking Time Bomb
Doyle decision to bring back out-of-state inmates without space for them has put correctional officers at risk

[Madison, Wisc....] Last May, Governor Doyle announced his decision to return all out-of-state inmates to Wisconsin, despite rampant prison overcrowding. Senator Scott Fitzgerald (R - Juneau), co-chairman of the legislature's Joint Committee on Finance and former chairman of the Senate Committee on Corrections, criticized the move at the time and said it would make prisons more crowded and less safe. Recent events have shown this prediction to be true.

"Governor Doyle and the legislators who applauded his decision to add to the prison system's dangerous overcrowding need to look themselves in the mirror and ask if they're really doing what's best for Wisconsin," Fitzgerald said. "We're at a crisis point in our correctional system and if we don't do something soon, it's only going to get worse."

Yesterday, correctional officers at the Kettle Morraine Correctional Institute rallied to protest a series of violent incidents. In separate incidents over the last five weeks, one officer was punched in the face and had his jaw broken by an inmate; three inmates smashed their way through a prison unit in an attempt to take control from guards; a female officer was attacked through her office window; and an officer had a threatening note slipped under his office door by gang members.

In response to the incidents at Kettle Morraine, the prison was locked down for a brief time and three inmates responsible for an incident on March 13th have been transferred to the former Supermax facility in Boscobel. But Fitzgerald says serious action needs to be taken to address the problem.

"How many more correctional officers need to be attacked or injured before the Doyle administration recognizes that prison overcrowding is a serious problem and takes action?" Fitzgerald said. "Refusing to consider building a new prison or sending inmates back out of state is madness. We've got a ticking time bomb in our prison system that's waiting to explode, and failing to tackle it head-on isn't going to do anything but make the situation worse."

The Kettle Morraine Correctional Institute is almost 50% over capacity and the total population system-wide at adult correctional facilities is currently more than 30% over capacity.