MADISON, Wis. — The number of inmates in Wisconsin’s county jails and state prisons has reached the lowest levels the state has seen in two decades, a new report from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum released Thursday found.
COVID-19’s impact on the state’s incarcerated population is a reflection of both deliberate criminal justice decisions to keep people out of jails and prisons during the pandemic, but also pre-pandemic emphasis on criminal justice reform, according to the report.
Between February 2020 and February 2021, the adult prison population in Wisconsin declined by 15.8%, from more than 23,000 to 19,581; it now sits at the lowest point since the end of October 1999.
The population decline in Wisconsin’s county jails between April 2019 and 2020 fell by 35%; nearly all of which occurred nearly immediately between February and April 2020. Since April, the jail population has crept back up and by December 2020 had risen by 10%; however, the overall jail population level still remains at its lowest in at least two decades.
Part of the decline can be traced to the emergency order signed by Gov. Tony Evers in March 2020, halting new prison admissions to stop the spread of COVID-19. 25 inmates have died due to the virus, with more than half the prison population in Wisconsin being infected throughout the pandemic.
To date, the report found that about 1,250 male inmates sentenced to prison had still not been transferred out of county jails as of mid-February 2021.
Criminal justice system decisions have combined with pandemic effects to produce the declines. Criminal case resolutions have declined during the pandemic, with a pause in jury trials leading to a backlog in cases. In a recent report, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne has told News 3 Investigates that the county made deliberate efforts to reduce jail population during the pandemic, leading to an ongoing population decrease in the Dane County jail.
Overall, the report found that Wisconsin’s incarcerated jail and prison population combined held fewer than 30,000 inmates in December 2020, “likely the lowest number in more than 20 years.” That number is likely to increase again somewhat as the pandemic recedes amid rising vaccinations, and criminal justice system decisions return closer to normal.
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