The George Floyd thing, again.
Two weeks ago, the feckless overseers of the Dane County jail called for a time out. They didn’t have the votes for an additional $24 million to decommission the outdated two floors of Sing Sing-era cells atop the City County Building to build a more humane facility adjacent to the Public Safety building.
A compromise was in the works, Dane County supervisors said. County Board chairman Analiese Eicher has introduced that compromise: an even smaller jail by lopping off the top floor of the proposed seven-story addition.
Outdated Alcatraz-like cells on the top two floors of the City-County Bldg would be replaced but BLM crowd doesn’t want more humane facilities; they want no jail at all
Dane County currently has room for 1,013 inmates (the sheriff calls them “residents”). Dane County budgeted for $150 million for 922 beds — a 9% reduction. But that’s not small enough for Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county.
Continued delays, supply chain issues, and inflation required an additional $24 million to complete that project. So the compromise introduced today would authorize only $16 million to further reduce jail beds to 825 — a 19% reduction from current capacity. Plus a ton of social engineering:
- Weekly meetings between the WI Department of Corrections and Dane County Sheriff “to review the status of those held on Department of Corrections on technical violations.” As if!
- Create a “Justice Support Services division to provide improved outcomes for those whose primary criminal justice involvement was with behavioral health and/or substance use issues.”
- Eliminate the Huber work-release program in the next three years, with a “human services-based system” (whatever that means).
- Expand the use of electronic monitoring. (As if that rubber band hasn’t been stretched to the breaking point). And of course …
- Hire a consultant. When flapping around on the beach, always hire a consultant “to evaluate specific policy, practice, and program effectiveness in reducing the jail population.”
All this, the Resolution says, is “Due to “increased attention to the need for criminal justice reform after the murder of George Floyd.”
The Eicher amendment is co-sponsored by Sups. Andrae, Bayrd, Miles, Schauer, and Ratcliff. It’s Item #K on Thursday evening’s 02-03-22 agenda. Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Comment here for public safety. Watch it all go down here.
Blaska’s Bottom Line goes to Supervisor David Ripp of Springdale, the most tenured member of the County Board: “They think there are enough votes to pass this garbage. If I vote for it, I’ll have to vomit right after it.”
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
Total Bullshit! So sick of these idiots circumventing hard issues. We have a criminal problem in Madison and Dane County. I don’t care their color, lock the f****rs up. And if the current jail is not acceptable to the “residents”, tough. Stop committing crimes.
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Excellent analysis, Dave.
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Again, why do they insist upon adding more jail space by adding more floors to the existing Dane County jail?
Dane County is a big place with plenty of space. Why can’t we find land somewhere else in Dane County to remodel an existing building or build a new building that can add jail space to our existing jail space?
Or, how about this for an idea. Shop around to the counties that surround Dane County and ask them if they have the jail space to house our inmates. (And they are inmates, as the word residents, is reserved for those who are housed in apartments, assisted living, and health care facilities. They are inmates because they are prisoners because they broke the law.)
See if those counties have the space and at what cost would it be for a Dane County inmate to be housed in their jails.
Or, how about the State of Wisconsin look at building a medium-security facility to house long-term inmates that would otherwise be held in county jails. We could build a large enough medium-security facility somewhere in the state to accommodate larger long-term county inmates while short-term county inmates could still be housed in county lock-ups.
If the woke crowd complains about housing long-term county jail inmates in a medium-security lockup located somewhere else in the state, our answer should be; don’t do the crime, don’t do the time.
In other words: Don’t just explore the idea of adding on to the existing county jail, explore all other options to house Dane County inmates. Do a cost analysis of all options and pick the one that makes the most sense for the taxpayers.
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Check this scumbag out: https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2022CF000573&countyNo=13&index=0&mode=details
This Andrew M Stoltz character has been let go time and time again with just a slap on the wrist no matter how many times he has recidivated.
Yeah, I’m feeling really secure in my home with this scumbag out on the loose. Considering how many times he has been busted before, he should have been locked up a long time ago.
I can only hope that he gets his final justice by a bullet to the head or chest while attempting to hurt someone else.
That will save we the taxpayers the cost of housing him hopefully for the rest of his life.
My only question at this time is why oh why has this P.O.S. been let go again and again?
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