MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin sends more people to prison than any neighboring state and twice as many as Minnesota.

The cost of keeping one person in prison in Wisconsin for one year, according to the state Department of Corrections, is close to $30,000.

Wisconsin's adult prison system is designed to house 16,560 inmates, but right now it's holding more than 23,000 people.

In the state House, Milwaukee Democrat Evan Goyke says this is causing a huge problem.

"Cells are double and triple filled,” he states. “To pay for the overcrowding, $23,000 a day is spent to county jails to house state inmates, which will total $8.6 million in 2018."

Goyke points out that this money comes from the general fund and means less investment in other needed areas such as education, job creation or health care.

The new state budget allocates $1 billion for corrections spending and calls for creation of a task force to look into solutions.

While the adult prison system in Wisconsin is well over capacity, there has been a significant decline in the number of juveniles being held in the Lincoln Hills facility.

Right now there are approximately 135 boys at Lincoln Hills, which means the facility is about 70 percent vacant.

"As Lincoln Hills gets smaller, it also gets more expensive – $390 per day per juvenile,” he states. “This cost increase will lead to even fewer juveniles being sent to Lincoln Hills and highlights the challenging economic future for the facility."

Goyke's idea is to change the Lincoln Hills facility into an adult prison, and to develop smaller, regional facilities to treat juvenile offenders.

That would make available 500 more adult prison beds, which would only be part of a solution to ease crowding in the state's adult prison system.

Goyke says the Legislature needs to work on smart, innovative solutions for criminal justice reform.





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New data shows incarceration has ballooned in Kentucky's rural counties, and less populated regions are building more jails.

The findings come from an analysis of jail-offenses data by the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative. Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist for the organization, said small towns and counties pour a huge amount of public resources into arrests for minor offenses. She added that those same counties are doubling down on policing and prosecution policies.

"Incarceration is a costly business," she said. "It is extremely destabilizing for people who go to jail, and it may or may not actually do anything to improve public safety."

The average county in Kentucky had about 12,000 people incarcerated in 2019. That number has decreased to around 10,000 in 2024, according to the Kentucky Association of Counties.

Across the country, Bertram said, most counties see jails as a place to hold people charged with low-level offenses or misdemeanors.

"Two thirds of people are being held on charges that did not involve physical violence against another person," she said.

According to federal data from 2023, 20% of people in jails were held for misdemeanors. According to the Jail Data Initiative, the actual number of people in jails that year for non-violent offenses is closer to 35%.


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More than 60 Pennsylvania counties do not have enough public defenders for their caseloads, forcing some, including in Erie County, to each handle more than 400 cases a year.

A report by Quattrone Center at the University of Pennsylvania said the state needs more than 1,200 full-time public defenders but has about 850.

Sara Jacobson, executive director of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, said the state was one of only two providing no funding for public defense but $7.5 million was allocated in the last two state budgets. Jacobson acknowledged it has helped, although spread across 67 counties, it is not enough to make real change in places like Erie County.

"Erie got in 2023-2024 a little over $102,000. The second appropriation: $106,723," Jacobson pointed out. "The problem is that when you add the cost of an attorney's salary and benefits, the money that's there is not enough when it gets divided up."

The report found Erie County would need 28 full-time attorneys to handle the large caseload but currently has nine full-time and eight part-time attorneys. At a recent news conference, Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder said the state's allocation of funding for indigent defense would have to double, to $15 million a year to handle the growing need.

Jacobson noted heavy caseloads cause delays, both for public defenders and clients. She added prior to the pandemic, Erie County had top public defender pay but now, some attorneys are leaving for better-paying work in the Erie conflict office.

"Conflict Counsel in Erie County gets paid more and has a far lower caseload," Jacobson explained. "Every time someone leaves, their 400 or however many cases have to be distributed among the other lawyers. So those caseloads go up and the service to those clients goes down because of it."

Jacobson cited a Vanderbilt Law School study, which found each exoneration for a wrongful conviction costs a state $6.1 million. With at least 140 exonerations, it adds up to $856 million in costs for Pennsylvania.

Indiana lawmakers continue to debate THC rules while surrounding states move forward with marijuana legalization.

Senate Bill 478 targets packaging and branding rules for legal THC products sold to people 21 and older. Lawmakers want to prevent the products from mimicking candy or snacks, which might appeal to minors. The bill would require testing and stricter packaging for craft hemp flower and other THC items.

Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, sponsored the bill.

"This market right now is the wild, wild West," Teshka contended. "I think what this bill attempts to do is to ensure that the safety of Hoosier youth and Hoosier consumers comes first and primary in our efforts to regulate this product."

Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10 products-chemicals with THC levels under 0.3% remain legal in Indiana and often appear in gas stations, smoke shops and dispensaries. Committee members provided input for possible changes to the bill and recessed before acting but plan to reconvene soon.

Although marijuana sales remain illegal in Indiana, nearby states allow both recreational and medical use. Across the country, nearly 40 states allow medical marijuana and 24 permit recreational sales.

Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, said in conference committee Monday the current bill offers far too many permits.

"In the future, if there are additional permits needed we could always come back and increase that number of permits," Wesco argued. "But the 20,000 is essentially more than 200 locations per county in our state on average, and I think is far too accessible and available."

The House has passed two amendments to the bill this session. One limits sales near schools and another changes the definition of e-liquids.


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