Blacks in Wisconsin Prisons

Governor Jim Doyle is creating a panel to study the high incarceration rate of  blacks in Wisconsin prisons. Doyle orders new panel on blacks in state prisons:

"Far too many of our citizens, particularly African-American males, are serving time in our prisons rather than learning in our schools or succeeding in the workplace," Doyle said in a draft of a speech he was set to deliver at today's Capitol celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday...

Last September we observed in  A Modest Proposal: Jail All Young Black Men, citing Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette Hegerty, that many critics refuse to accept that this a larger societal problem, dwarfing the resources of law enforcement.

The finding will be:

• Black, Hispanic, and Asian youth are less likely to have adequate legal representation than white youth as legal services programs are stretched beyond reasonable limits.
• Black, Hispanic, and Asian youth are less likely to have jobs.
• Black, Hispanic, and Asian youth are less likely to have high school diplomas.

Then the  real challenge begins. Wisconsin must commit to costly and expensive programs to create jobs, not in suburbs, but in areas that are accessible to these young men and women.  And as a precursor to the jobs, the public schools and advanced training must be in place.

This costs money.  A lot of money. But it costs less than filling the prisons, in terms of dollars and human productivity.

Comments

[Elaine P. O.]

Yes, there would be costs to improve the social and economic conditions which contribute to such high incarceration rates, but these costs would be worthwhile. And remember, we are spending billions to support a war in Iraq which could be used to improve the quality of lives here in this country rather than bring death to not only our troops but as the United Nation reports today, approximately 34,000 Iraqi CIVILIANS in 2006.

And we should all not forget that Beckham can be paid the equivalent of 156K a day ( 365 days in a year!) to play professional soccer in Los Angeles. There is definitely something wrong with our priorities.