Wisconsin Prison Alternative Criticized August 17, 2004
News Summary
Wisconsin's Felony Drug Offender Alternative to Prison Program has come under fire by critics who say it has been ineffective in rehabilitating offenders convicted of drug sales and possession, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Aug. 15.Under the program, offenders are sent to the Secure Detention Facility and the Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center. After going through several phases of the program, participants are released on electronic monitoring. They are required to stay off drugs, complete community service, and hold a job.
Since 2000, Milwaukee County judges have sentenced 400 men to the program. Of those, 19 finished the program, while 180 were expelled and sent to state prisons to serve out their terms.
"Whatever they're doing -- it's not working," said Wisconsin Senate President Alan Lasee (R-De Pere). "It might be time to pull the plug and start all over again."
But corrections officials, judges, and drug prosecutors said the program needs more time to succeed.
"It didn't have a whole lot of conceptualization up front," said Stan Stojkovic, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. "There were a lot of good-hearted people in the Department of Corrections who wanted things to go right, but the reality is that it didn't do that."
Stojkovic said relaxed oversight of the program and a lack of constant analysis contributed to the program's problems.
State Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin), chairman of the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, said the cost of the program to taxpayers isn't justified by the success rate. "People will say, 'If you can help one person, it's worth any amount.' But you have to balance that against education, paving the roads, etc. You have to balance the costs," he said.
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