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Join hundreds of faith leaders across the state in the WISDOM 11x15 Kickoff

ESTHER and JOSHUA along with all WISDOM Affiliates Call to Reduce Wisconsin’s Prison Population by 11,000
 

A press conference will be held on Tuesday, February 21st at 10:00 AM in front of the Brown County Court House in Green Bay to kick off the statewide 11x15 Campaign, calling to reduce the incarceration rate to 11,000 by the end of 2015.

What: Press Conference with Faith Leaders to kick-off 11x15 Campaign
When: Tuesday, February 21st at 10:00 AM
Where: In front of Brown County Courthouse (100 South Jefferson St. Green Bay)

 

Our state’s incarceration rate has grown dramatically in recent decades (over 22,000 inmates).  The return to an 11,000-inmate system would only take us back to 1995 levels.  

We pay a huge human price for our overuse of incarceration.  Families and communities have been destroyed. The cost of Corrections in Wisconsin has risen from under $200 million per year in 1990 to more than $1.3 billion in 2011.   

The majority of inmates in our prisons have no history of violence.  Many suffer from mental illness and/or addictions.  Most are people of color and an inordinate number come from backgrounds of poverty.

The good news is that alternatives to incarceration that are being proven effective every day in our state.  Counties have established numerous programs:  drug treatment courts, mental health courts, day report centers, universal screening, and more.  

“We can’t punish people into being healthy. We need for families to stay intact and for offenders to be responsible to their communities. We are all better off when people can be healed and made whole through these effective programs; bringing accountability to the offender and the to community. Alternative treatment programs work better than incarceration,” says Gwen Gibson, ESTHER President.

Wisconsin has the experience and the expertise necessary to cut our prison population to 11,000 by 2015.  We need only the will and the courage to act.

Visit www.prayforjusticeinwi.org for more information on the 11x15 statewide WISDOM campaign.

 

 

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