Last Thursday, the Dane County Board of Supervisors passed a large criminal justice reform package intended to address racial disparities in policing and incarceration. While local officials say the package is an important first step in bringing concrete change, some Madison residents criticized the package for not going far enough. The Dane County Board of […]
County delays development of new jail facility
[Editor’s Note: After this story aired, a member of the County’s Public Protection and Judiciary Committee reached out to clarify that, while budgeting issues are at play, the committee’s vote to postpone the jail project was in order to revisit and plan social and racial justice reforms associated with the project.] Last week, Dane County […]
Do We Need a Pandemic to Empty the Jail?
Back in March of 2020, the Dane County Jail had a problem. The coronavirus pandemic had spread to the Madison area, and Public Health authorities had issued orders seeking to minimize crowds and gatherings of people, particularly in confined spaces to minimize transmission of the virus. The jail population at the time sat at 772 […]
Downtown protests sparked by arrest of Black Lives Matter organizer
Yesterday’s arrest of 28-year-old Yeshua Musa instigated a night of turbulent protest. After Musa’s arrest, a group of about 300 protesters marched through downtown, in a demonstration that lasted from Tuesday afternoon into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Protesters are demanding Musa’s release from the Dane County Jail, where he has been booked on […]
Plans for new county jail move ahead despite pandemic
Last night, a review committee tasked with the construction of a new county jail received a virtual tour of what the new facility would look like. The jail was initially approved by the County Board in 2017, with a budget of $76 million, to build four floors on top of the current Public Safety Building. […]
State Prisons, County Jails Prepare for COVID-19
In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, gatherings of ten people or more in confined spaces are forbidden in Wisconsin. But, that ban doesn’t apply to state prisons. David Liners is the state director of WISDOM, a coalition of groups that advocate for criminal justice reform. Liners says COVID-19 could spread rapidly throughout Wisconsin’s […]
