Criminal Justice & Prison Reform
Wisconsin remains a state with high incarceration rates especially impacting Black males. 53206, a zip code in Milwaukee central city, is now notoriously known as the most incarcerated zip code in the country.
MICAH’s Restoring our Communities criminal justice task force goals are to:
- Restore communities that have been harmed by mass incarceration;
- Restore families to wholeness and health;
- Restore balance, fiscal discipline and humane priorities to our state’s criminal justice system by decision makers investing in non prison systems; communities not prison;
- Restore people to health through increased treatment alternatives to incarceration, decreased use of solitary confinement, and better support for those who return from jail or prison;
- Restore men and women back to the community
Updates:
Members of our coalition to Save the Chaney Center had a positive meeting with Milwaukee Common Council President Jose Perez on Thursday November 10th. The PowerPoint slides and concerns raised during our two meetings with community members near 7930 W Clinton were shared with President Perez.
A contingent of representatives will be meeting with Alderman Michael Murphy on Tuesday, November 29th as he is the chair of the Zoning Committee. Our message is simple: Save the Chaney Center and approve the Clinton Avenue site for the proposed new facility to replace Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake Schools. To save the Chaney Center, the juvenile facility must be built at 7930 W Clinton Avenue. If the Clinton Avenue site fails, DOC’s back-up plan is to build on the Chaney Center site.
The Granville Advisory Committee voted to approve the zoning change and development of the new juvenile facility at 7930 West Clinton Avenue. This is an advisory vote only. The proposal now goes to the City Plan Commission.
A Special Meeting of the City Plan Commission scheduled for December 12th at 1:30pm. The agenda has not yet been posted, but it is likely regarding 7930 W. Clinton Avenue. Thus far, the meeting notice indicates that the meeting will be held at City Hall (200 E. Wells) in Room 301-B. Virtual participation will also be available however the link is not yet available.
Hold the Date/Plan to Attend – The Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Commitee Meeting will likely occur in January. Their first regularly scheduled meeting is January 10, 2023, at 9:00am at City Hall (200 E. Wells) in Room 301-B. There likely will be a virtual option to attend as well. I will let you know when the meeting is confirmed.
Upon completion of these three meetings, DOC will have completed the requirements of Step 7 below.
Step 8 was completed last week with their three listening sessions.
The next step (9) is the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration, State Building Commission (SBC).