Yesterday, the Finance Committee passed an amendment that will raise taxes by $4 million for the Sheriff’s Office. This amendment did not stipulate how the Sheriff might use these tax dollars, nor did the Sheriff provide a justification for how he might use these public resources.
Because I know you care about public safety as much as I do, I ask that – if you are considering giving additional public resources to the Sheriff – you make these dollars contingent on implementation of evidenced-based programs that aim to reform the use of the County Jail and reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system. We know that Wisconsin has the highest African American male incarceration rate in the nation, with over half of African American men in their 30s in Milwaukee County having served time in prison. This shouldn’t be acceptable to any of us. If the County is going to raise taxes for public safety, that money should be spent on reforming our criminal justice system, getting smarter on crime, and reducing the extent to which we lock people up for minor offenses.
As you know, criminal justice reform is a top priority for me. I have been working for years through various venues on implementing evidence-based programs, notably funding the Courts’ universal screening program, implementing job training and education programs at the House of Correction, and overhauling the juvenile justice center to be focused on community-based programs rather than detention.
Though we have a long way to go, Milwaukee County has a strong record of implementing evidence-based criminal justice reform. Not only has the Sheriff not participated in the system’s reform efforts, he has gone out of his way to derail attempts to reform the criminal justice system by opposing attempts to grant funding for reforms, opposing reasonable efforts to provide treatment and employment training for individuals while they are incarcerated, and consistently making derogatory remarks about individuals who call for reforms to the criminal justice system.
In the latest of a long series of outrageous statements, just yesterday he referred to people in the Black Lives Matters movement as “sub-human creeps.” This hateful rhetoric should not be rewarded with an open checkbook of tax dollars worth $4 million.
My office is currently participating in an effort being coordinated by the Milwaukee Community Justice Council to partner with the MacArthur Foundation to reduce jail incarceration rates and racial disparities in the criminal justice system while maintaining public safety. Our chances of succeeding in this endeavor would increase considerably if the Sheriff agreed to partner with us and demonstrated a real desire to improve the fairness of our criminal justice system. I ask that any additional funding given to the Sheriff is associated with accountability to our shared constituents so we can continue to make progress on justice reform that is so desperately needed in Milwaukee County.
As always, I am more than happy to meet with any of you to discuss any budget issue and how we can work together to move Milwaukee County forward.
