By Dr. Susan Wolfgram
You cannot reform a system that is working as it is intended.
You must transform that system.
AB85 is a Wisconsin bill that requires the Department of Corrections to recommend revoking a person’s extended supervision, parole, or probation if the person is charged with a crime while on release. Under current law, a person who is released on extended supervision, parole, or probation is subject to conditions or rules of the release. If the person violates a condition or rule, the person is subject to sanctions for the violation, which may include revocation of release. This bill removes discretion of the supervising agent, the one who has a relationship with the person on the aforementioned types of supervised release, from exercising discretion when it would be appropriate to revoke someone and send them back to prison, decimating their lives. This includes but is not limited to breaking up their family, the loss of their job and thus support of their family, losing their housing, their possessions, and adding to a criminal justice history that then becomes almost insurmountable to overcome. When a community disenfranchises a group of people, the entire community suffers and destabilizes.
This is a solution without a problem.
I am Dr. Susan Wolfgram; my roles in this criminal justice transformation space are many over the years. I have been a reentry advocate and organizer for 20 years, starting in 2005 when a professor at UW-Stout. My students and I would go into the jails and provide resources and education. I am also a licensed independent clinical social worker and former psychotherapist for Mayo Health Systems. I am the Co-chair of the JONAH Affordable Housing Task Force and Co-Director of the Eau Claire Tenant Landlord Resource Center, both shared with Paul Savides.
In 2010 and up until 2020 when COVID prevented in-person education in the jails, I brought a trauma-informed program primarily for incarcerated males into the Eau Claire County jail called STOP & THINK. For any man in the class, either coming out of jail or going to prison, who wanted the ongoing support, I would follow them with mentoring and accessing resources, primarily housing.
That is my role in this space: to provide mentoring, advocacy, support, and resources to successfully reenter our community. Access to housing is public safety; however, we will be talking later about “reimagining public safety”.
We know that AB85 has been vetoed by the Governor; however, our work is not done. There is the possibility of a veto override. However unlikely, it is a possibility. And, if not an override, the bill can be reintroduced at a later session.
This bill, from my perspective, has always been “a solution without a problem”. Why?
· According to USAFacts.org, the violent crime rate in 2023 in Wisconsin went down 4.9% (versus a 3.7% decrease in the 50-state average) and the property crime rate fell 11.1% (versus a 2.9% decrease in the 50-state average). All seven offenses that comprise violent and property crime went down in Wisconsin in 2023.
· This bill was never about public safety; it was and is about the old playbook, following the national trend of stoking fear among the public and going back to filling beds. Even while for at least the past 10 years, WISDOM and other advocate organizations have been working every day to reduce incarceration rates in our state.
· According to the Prison Policy Institute, Wisconsin has an incarceration rate of 615 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth.
· And, people of color are grossly disproportionately overrepresented in WI prisons and jails.
SO, what IS reimagining public safety?….It takes NO imagination to indiscriminately send people back to prison, breaking up families and communities. Reimagining public safety is a mindset:
· Believing and creating structures that provide funding to support holistic reentry, including but not limited to: housing support, job support, free substance abuse and mental health treatment, mentoring, and family reintegration support.
I want to conclude with serving as a witness to Elyse Harvey’s testimony that she asked me to share. Elyse is a Parent Support Worker for the Department of Human Services, a colleague and a friend of mine and a friend and volunteer of JONAH as well as being on the Board of Directors of the Tenant Landlord Resource Center.
This is her testimony:
In 2015, I was charged with several drug-related offenses, including retail theft, forgery, multiple bail jumping charges, possession and delivery of methamphetamines, OWI 3rd, and OWI 4th. I was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months of incarceration with 8 years of extended supervision. I served 3 years and 1 month in custody and was released in November 2018 after successfully completing the Earned Release Program (ERP). During my time in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, I received no conduct reports, and since my release, I have remained violation-free. I am currently on supervision through August.
I live with chronic PTSD stemming from my past experiences. Even now, nearly seven years after my release, I still have nightmares about being incarcerated and separated from my children. The mere idea of re-entering that system breaks me to my core. I have worked tirelessly to rebuild my life with integrity, stability, and purpose. This law would create a constant threat of re-incarceration over small missteps, which is terrifying and mentally destabilizing for someone who has fought so hard to recover and thrive.
Since my release preceded my husband’s, I have taken on the role of the family’s primary breadwinner. I currently work at the Department of Human Services (DHS) as a Parent Support Worker. If I were incarcerated again, my husband DeAndre would be forced to take on full responsibility—financial and emotional—for our four children. This would put an extreme strain on our family and risk the well-being of our children in the following ways:
· Elijah is DeAndre’s biological son, whom we have assumed Power of Attorney for. Though legally adopted by another family, he lives with us and sees me as one of his mothers. We share a deep emotional bond. My incarceration would retraumatize him and create further instability in his life.
· Trenton, my biological son, has lived with us full-time since January 2020 after his father was arrested. He has a history of trauma and has shown great resilience. If I were incarcerated, and since DeAndre is not his legal guardian, Trenton could be forced to return to his father’s care—where he was previously exposed to sexual abuse and violence.
· Trevionte’, our third child, has also experienced previous separation from me during incarceration and struggles with mental health issues. If removed from our home again, he would likely end up in out-of-home care or even residential treatment. DeAndre has no legal rights to him, leaving his future uncertain.
· Aniyah, our youngest and only daughter, is nearly five. She is our only child who has not been system-involved. She is bright, full of life, and deeply attached to me. She cannot sleep without me and has never been away from me overnight. Any separation would cause her significant emotional and psychological harm.
My income sustains our household. Losing my job at DHS would not only devastate us financially, but the loss of stability could ripple across every aspect of our lives—housing, childcare, education, and healthcare. My husband’s employment does not cover all of our family’s needs on its own.
As a Parent Support Worker, I bring lived experience and empathy to my role. I work directly with families navigating the child welfare system and provide critical peer-based support. My insight as someone who has successfully reentered society adds tremendous value to the agency and the community. If I were removed from this position, the families I support would lose a trusted advocate, and our community would lose an important example of redemption and resilience.
In closing: I believe the intent behind AB85 is intended to be rooted in public safety. However, its impact disproportionately punishes individuals who are already working hard to reintegrate and do better. This bill does not account for the complexity of reentry, trauma, addiction recovery, or the reality of parenting while on supervision. Rather than supporting successful reintegration, it increases the risk of destabilizing families, especially those led by system-impacted parents like me.
This bill threatens to undo years of progress—personally and professionally—and reintroduces fear and uncertainty into families that are finally healing.
OUR WORK CONTINUES TO TRANSFORM A BROKEN SYSTEM; YOU CANNOT REFORM A SYSTEM THAT IS WORKING AS IT IS INTENDED.
ACTION: Christian Phelps asked that if you oppose this bill and any attempt at reintroducing it, please email him: Representative Christian Phelps