Wisconsin’s Prison Budget Among Largest In Nation
State's incarceration rate, particularly for Black males, also among highest nationally.
Waupun Correctional Institution. File photo from the Department of Corrections.
Wisconsin’s incarceration rates are higher than the national average, especially for Black residents, and the state has one of the largest corrections budgets in the nation, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The report comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the prison system due to extended lockdowns that have included prisoner deaths and ongoing worker shortages.
The forum found 344 of every 100,000 Wisconsinites were in prison in 2021, compared to a national average of 316.
In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number prisoners in Wisconsin, the state’s incarceration rate was even higher, at 411 per 100,000.
The state spent $220 per resident on corrections in 2020, compared to the U.S. average of $182. Wisconsin spends more on corrections than any of its neighbors. Michigan is closest at $204 per resident, while Minnesota spends $111 per resident.
In 2017, the most recent year for which full U.S. Census data are available for all local governments, Wisconsin ranked 13th among states in per capita combined state and local corrections spending, according to the report.
The 2023-25 state budget dedicates $2.76 billion dollars in general purpose revenue to the Department of Corrections, making it the third-biggest recipient of those funds among all state agencies.
Jason Stein is the research director of the Wisconsin Policy Forum. He says that while his organization does not advocate a specific solution, the state has money to tackle challenges.
“The state has a surplus, it has an ability to work on problems, and corrections issues are certainly one of them,” he said.
Rule violations for those on supervision drive incarceration rate
The top cause of incarceration in Wisconsin is not new crimes, according to the report. Instead, it’s people on probation who are sent to prison for violating rules.
Between the years 2000 and 2020, the policy forum found such revocations accounted for more than 30 percent of all new prison admissions each year.
Jon McCray Jones is a policy analyst for the ACLU of Wisconsin. He says the rule violations often are not public safety concerns.
“Rules such as borrowing money, missing a meeting with their officer, switching residency locations, switching jobs without approval,” he said, would not be considered crimes for most Wisconsinites.
“But when a formerly incarcerated person does it, they get sent to prison for it,” he said. “You’re ironically making the community worse off because they can’t get a job, they can’t get housing, they can’t get a credit card. So then what they do is they turn to crime.”
Substance abuse issues are a key driver behind these revocations, according to a 2019 study from the Badger Institute. Data from the Department of Corrections shows that 72 percent of people on supervision in Wisconsin needed substance abuse treatment in 2022.
Stein said the state has the programming and funding available to provide treatment for those suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues, both while they are incarcerated and post-release.
“And then I think the state could do more to track and document what approaches are working, because I think it’s a mistake to jump to conclusions about what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
Wisconsin had the third-highest Black-white imprisonment disparity in the country in 2021
The Wisconsin Policy Forum also found Black Wisconsinites are imprisoned at close to 12 times the rate of white Wisconsinites. Only New Jersey and California had larger gaps, at 12.8 and 15.6 percent, respectively.
The number is calculated by dividing the Black imprisonment rate by the white imprisonment rate, and is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Wisconsin also had the highest Black imprisonment rate in the country in 2021, at 2,104 per 100,000 residents. Oklahoma, the next highest state, had a rate of 1,932 per 100,000.
“Historical developments, socioeconomic factors, and policy choices made over many decades have contributed to these incarceration rates and racial disparities in Wisconsin,” the report said.
Advocates say the report underscores longstanding challenges in Wisconsin
Adam Plotkin, a spokesperson for the State Public Defender’s office, said the policy forum research shows that without investing more in diversion, drug treatment and worker training programs, the state is harming public safety rather than protecting it.
“The fundamental issue is that the criminal justice system and prisons are the most expensive, least effective option,” Plotkin said.
But correctional institutions remain understaffed. New officer pay was bumped from $20 an hour to $33 in the most recent state budget in an effort to recruit and retain more officers.
“It’s no secret that staffing has been a challenge at our facilities statewide, but we’re hopeful that the new compensation plan and pay increases for security staff are going to put us on a better path,” Department of Corrections spokesperson Kevin Hoffman said in a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio.
“Our recruitment efforts are well underway, and we’re already seeing positive signs, including a spike in applications and larger class sizes in our pre-service academy,” Hoffman said.
Listen to the WPR report here.
Report: Wisconsin prisons have large budgets, high racial disparities was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Good article! But it addresses the same problems we were discussing back in college, 20 or so years ago, at U.W.- __________. This is a very complicated problem, and it seems no progress has been made. I do not like criminals. Most people do not. However they are human beings, we live together in this state and when we lock them up we have an obligation to give them a certain basic level of care. These budgetary lockdowns fall way below a basic level of care and are cruel and unusual. Do you disagree? Then let me lock you in your bathroom for 23 hours a day for one week. I’ll be sure you are fed and given water. Then you can tell me how it was for you. So in the midst of this humanitarian crisis, the Legislature springs into action. Will they act on behalf of these needy prisoners in our state? Oh, heck no! They want to give a rich guy $500 million.
Prisoners are not sexy like a baseball team. Most people don’t like them so not helping is not costing them any votes. But they are human beings and they live in our state. And, ironically, many cannot vote but those prisoners are counted in the rural population for setting state Senate and Assembly districts. What is a crime? Nelson Mandela spent 26 years in prison. So he must have been an awful person, right? Heck no. He was great. Politicians decide what is a crime or not. Like Scott Walker. When a DA was hot on his trail, his friends in state and federal courts simply legalized his behavior from the bench. It was a crime until Walker was going to be prosecuted for it. None of the people in our state prisons have the ability to pull strings and grab a “Get out Of Jail Free” card.
Our current system takes people from their communities, and they return angry, worn-out, and live in blighted neighborhoods that very few politicians care about. I know of a city in Wisconsin where the politicians fawn all over people from other towns and villages. They will do almost anything for them. But those blighted neighborhoods? Ha Ha. They could care less. Criminals live there and nobody is willing to make the commitment to them and where they live. They would rather go sit in a luxury box at the game than help those who need it most. I mean that rich guy is here for his $500 million. There is no time or money to waste on criminals right? But what if crimes were defined, outside of murder and other violence, in a different way? As Leona Helmsley said: “The law is for little people.” The current system is harming us far more than it helps. Many deserve punishment. More do not and that hurts us and them. We have no choice but to deal with the real human problems involving prisoners before throwing hundreds of millions at sports teams. If we do not, the message is some people don’t matter, and are worthless, and that is a loss to all of us.
Back 50 years or so when I was at UWM Please help While some want to make prisoners the issue they really are not. Trauma is the issue and ALL of those prisoners were traumatized long before they got to Prison. Now for reasons I have yet to figure out this simple FACT is IGNORED by all media. No comments or review of “The Body Keeps the Score” which lays it out cold. Can not even get Urban Milwaukee to write about the Kid at Lincoln who need therapy to treat the trauma that they experienced long before the got to Lincoln Hills Each kid cost $450,000 if my memory of 80 years is still working. I am coming to the conclusion the Republican – Data Wonk – is the TONE of Urban Milwaukee. Treating TRAUMA should not be political UNLESS all those folks in Prison set the TONE for the Republicans in the State. Have to stereotype Black folks to get folks to keep voting Republican Hummmmm
Wisconsin is a disgrace! The Dept of Corrections budget exceeded the entire University of Wisconsins’ budget approx 20 years ago.
Incarceration is the “most expensive, least effective option”!
Paying $33 an hour for Guards while refusing to provide Childcare is wrong on many levels.
It is being reported that a third prisoner in four months has died in the lockdown at the Waupun prison yesterday, October 30, 2023. People want justice on the cheap and politicians are all too eager to lie and tell them they can have it. Maximum sentences and harsh conditions they promise and then people start dying. Where are those politicians now?
Is a baseball park more interesting than providing a bare minimum of humanity in our prisons? Of course, it is. A civil society addresses the problems it has first before frivolous things like ball games. We failed that test.