Progressive Parole
Walking into the Department of Corrections headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, everything seems a bit archaic. American flags are plastered on the walls, along with badges and other memorabilia. It’s a building that commemorates the past rather than planning for the future. I was there to meet with the recently appointed parole commission chair, John Tate II. I expected to meet someone with a DOC background — someone who had worked within the system and risen to the top. Perhaps someone who was already honored on the walls as I walked in. And quite honestly, I was expecting to meet someone who was stern, having been weathered by the harsh realities of working within the DOC.
My expectations were far off. Tate most recently served as an alderman, but before that, he spent many years as a social worker. In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, he said that it’s his experience as a social worker that equips him for his new position, as it has given him a deep understanding of human development. He noted that the human brain, at least for males, keeps developing into the early 20s, so when looking at prison populations, “it’s often folks who committed crimes before their brain was fully developed.” Tate leads with the understanding that prison populations are made up of people: people who have made mistakes and people who deserve second chances. He added, “Either we believe that people are redeemable or we don’t. Hardness or softness on crime should have no relevance on whether we believe that there is redemption for individuals.” Frankly, I was shocked to hear this perspective within DOC walls.
I was meeting with Tate because of my internship with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. In my internship, my primary role was to correspond with inmates and their families. I read hundreds of letters from state prisons, took many calls from family members of inmates, and compiled data about the most common complaints. One of the most frequent problems I found was the lack of program availability, such as anger management courses, substance abuse treatment, and trauma support groups. For many inmates, these programs are mandatory in order for them to earn their release. So when the programs aren’t offered within the prison due to lack of capacity, an inmate can be denied parole for a circumstance that’s entirely out of their control.
It’s too often that small systematic roadblocks like this prevent inmates from being granted parole. And as a result, facilities are grossly overcrowded with thousands of nonviolent, low-risk prisoners who are being held for no pragmatic reason—all on the taxpayer’s dollar. Data from the Wisconsin DOC shows that between 2013 and 2017, 9,985 parole hearings were held. Yet only 865 inmates were actually released. That’s an 8.6% rate of release. A person has a better chance of getting into some Ivy League schools than an inmate has of being granted parole.
Before Tate’s appointment on June 3, 2019, the former Republican governor, Scott Walker, had left the parole commission chair vacant for two years. When I met with Tate, he was still awaiting confirmation from the Republican legislature. He noted that he has read countless reports from Walker’s tenure that denied parole on account of the inmate “needing more time” in the system, with no further explanation. Tate rebuked Walker’s neglect of the parole system, arguing that “Just tacking on time for the sake of tacking on time serves nobody. It doesn’t serve taxpayers who are expecting us to be judicious with their dollars. It doesn’t serve the community very well, especially when we’re having record unemployment.” When I met with Tate, he voiced his plans to transform the parole system in Wisconsin. He held up a spreadsheet that compiled the names of thousands of prisoners that he planned to release on his first day after being confirmed. These prisoners were people who had served substantial amounts of time for unsubstantial crimes, just sitting around in minimum-security facilities because of petty parole blocks.
One facet of progressive change within the parole system is simply releasing prisoners at a higher rate, especially those who are being held for small systematic reasons. But parole boards and officers also play an enormous role in an inmate’s reentry to society. In Tate’s vision of an ideal parole system, parole officers should be the point people for reentry resources. He reimagined the parole system as a gateway between prison life and society— a system that actually aided the transition rather than regulating it. A system that’s designed to get people back on track, not back in jail.
Sources
“Racine Alderman John Tate II Appointed To Chair Wisconsin Parole Commission.” Wisconsin Public Radio, 23 May 2019.
Ibid.
https://www.wpr.org/racine-alderman-john-tate-ii-appointed-chair-wisconsin-parole-commission