Editor’s Note
The Northside News is publishing these issue updates from the Northside Planning Council as part of our commitment to continued antiracism work. Read more about this feature on page 3. Read more about our antiracism work as a nonprofit on page 5.
Resolution to halt work on a new Dane County Jail
On the table: A resolution to halt work on a new Dane County Jail and invest in alternatives to incarceration is working its way through the Dane County Board of Supervisors. The resolution is sponsored by Board Supervisor Elizabeth Doyle, who represents downtown District 1 where two of Dane County’s three jail facilities are located and where the new jail is slated to be constructed.
The resolution, “Addressing Systemic Racism in the Dane County Criminal Justice System and Investing in Alternatives to Incarceration Outside of Law Enforcement,” currently outlines 12 recommendations “to lower the jail population and minimize the role of law enforcement.” These recommendations include reducing the use of the Dane County jail for probation and parole holds, prioritizing writing tickets instead of jail for minor offenses, continuing to increase the use of electronic monitoring, and increasing the use of restorative courts and implementing a mental health court to divert mental health cases.
Upcoming dates: At the July 9 Dane County Board meeting, the resolution was referred to several committees for consideration. For full resolution text and meeting dates, visit dane.legistar.com/Legislation and search for File 145.
Background: After years of debate and community resistance, the Dane County Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly voted to approve a $76 million proposal for new jail in 2017. Last summer, the Board approved an additional $74 million after discovering that construction plans for the original proposal weren’t feasible, bringing the total cost of the jail to $150 million, around $225 million with interest.
Proponents of the new jail point to unsafe conditions in current jail facilities, particularly those located on the sixth and seventh floors of the City County building. Groups supporting and opposing the new jail agree that current conditions are unsafe and need to be addressed. However, organizers against the jail argue that the solution is to reduce the number of people imprisoned by investing in communities — affordable housing, mental health services — rather than incarceration.
The dynamics of the debate echo conversations taking place across the country. Movements to stop new jail projects have succeeded in communities ranging from Los Angeles County in California to Tompkins County in upstate New York. Strategies have included addressing the impact that cash bail and crimeless revocation — reincarcerating people for violating rules of their probation or parole — have on the number of people imprisoned and what is often referred to as their length of stay.
So, since the Dane County Board’s vote to fund the new jail last summer, what has changed? In the last year, there has been turnover on the board. This spring, the number of people imprisoned in the Dane County jail was reduced significantly in response to COVID-19. In a recent Madison365 article, Robert Chappell wrote that Supervisor Doyle, who previously supported the new jail proposal, said that “the Dane County Sheriff’s Office response to the coronavirus pandemic proved that the jail population could be reduced.”
National protests after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in late May have also brought renewed public attention to the historical racism in America’s systems of policing and incarceration. Protests have driven momentum for police and prison reform, defunding and abolition.
Racial disparities within Dane County, including the jail, have continued to widen.
Implementing recommendations for police oversight and accountability
On the table: In June, the Common Council passed a resolution to create an alder workgroup to develop details and implementation plans for a MPD civilian oversight board and independent monitor.
Upcoming dates: According to the resolution, the alder workgroup will finish their work by Aug. 4 and the civilian oversight board will be in place by Oct. 6. There are opportunities for public participation in workgroup meetings.
Background: The recommendations to create an independent monitor, and a civilian oversight board that the monitor would report to, came from a years-long review process by an ad hoc committee.
The MPD Policy Procedure & Review Ad Hoc Committee was created after a young man, Tony Robinson, was shot and killed by Madison police officer Matt Kenny in 2015.
In 2016, the Ad Hoc Committee selected the OIR group as a consultant to complete a comprehensive review of MPD. The OIR group released a list of 146 recommendations in 2017. In the fall of 2019, the Ad Hoc Committee released 177 recommendations to improve MPD.
The Police and Fire Commission search for a new police chief
On the table: The Police and Fire Commission (PFC) has asked for community input as they hire a new MPD chief. Interim chief Vic Wahl has filled the position since former chief Mike Koval quit last September.
As of press time, the PFC had held two community input sessions in July via Zoom with individuals and organizations sharing their priorities for a new chief. The PFC is still finalizing a timeline for the search, but a draft timeline showed that the process is expected to end in late 2020 or early 2021, despite a public request from the Mayor for a police chief to be selected within 90 days.
Upcoming dates: Visit cityofmadison.com/city-hall/public-safety/police-and-fire-commission for dates and links for upcoming meetings. Concerns about barriers to accessing Zoom were mentioned multiple times during the public input sessions, and the PFC has stated that they will conduct community outreach in other venues over the next two months.
Background: As described on their webpage, the PFC is “an independent statutory body overseeing the hiring, promotion, discipline, and terminations of police and fire personnel in the City of Madison. The 5 commissioners are appointed by the Mayor to staggered five year terms. The purpose of having an independent commission is to separate police and fire staffing matters from local politics.”