By Ravenna Helson, Educator
Milwaukee Friends were represented at WISDOM’s People Over Prisons rally in Madison on August 23, 2025. I found it inspiring and informative. Well worth the trip!
Following is a letter to the editor I wrote after reading a very good article in the Journal Sentinel called “Demonstrators push Evers on prison reform” describing the rally. The article describes WISDOM’s message to the governor to take action to live up to the promises he made in his campaign for office regarding prison reform. She also mentioned his important veto of a Republican-authored bill that would have increased the number of people returned to prison without having committed a crime.
At the end of her article “Demonstrators push Evers on prison reform” (JSONLINE Monday, August 25, 2025) Laura Schulte pointed out that Governor Evers vetoed a bill that would have increased the number of people who were returned to prison without having committed a crime; crimeless revocation of probation. Thank you Governor Evers! (Probation can be revoked for many technical infractions; non-payment of a fine, missing an appointment, accepting work without prior approval.) People who are reincarcerated without having committed a crime are a huge cost to taxpayers and contribute significantly to the problem of overcrowding in our prison system. This we know. It’s an ill-conceived plan that doesn’t make society safer nor help in the rehabilitation of individuals struggling to make life work against the odds after incarceration.
I’ve come to realize that the cruelest penalty in this game of crimeless revocation is paid by the children of the reincarcerated. The silent shame of an innocent child when their parent is taken out of the household cannot be underestimated. The sudden drop in household income may cause drastic changes that are unexplainable to a youngster. Stress levels rise, lack of communication upsets everyone, yet we expect our children to go to school, focus on their studies and play nicely with others. I’ve witnessed two stunning examples of what this looks like in the classroom: a friendly, diligent student becomes totally uncommunicative, unable to speak or perform basic skills. Another, when asked why she was so upset, answered “my father was put in prison. For NO REASON”. I ask myself how she will view this system which shows no regard for the wellbeing of those she loves and depends on. How are we demonstrating our concern for family values?
If Wisconsin had concern for healthy families it would invest in treatment for mental health issues and drug addiction. It would spend tax dollars on literacy and children’s after school programs. When a problem arose help would be forthcoming for the avoidance of lifelong trauma and shame, and communication between incarcerated and their loved ones would be encouraged. Years of incarceration would not be the response to noncompliance of supervision, and long probationary periods would no longer hang over the heads of those trying to make a new start. Prison numbers would drop and we’d need fewer and fewer of them.
How did this come to be? Why do we exacerbate dangerous prison overcrowding, disruption to reassimilation and family life at such great expense to taxpayers? What is the incentive to keep the numbers of incarcerated in Wisconsin so high and getting higher?