What to know about parole, truth in sentencing and when people can get out of prison in Wisconsin
What’s the difference between parole and probation? How do people get out early from behind bars?
Those questions are playing into the Wisconsin governor's race, as Republican Tim Michels has criticized Democratic Gov. Tony Evers over the parole of state inmates who had been convicted of violent crimes.
The criminal justice system is highly local. Setting politics aside, here’s what to know about Wisconsin's sentencing laws.
Who decides someone’s prison sentence?
A judge decides a prison sentence after someone is convicted of a felony.
Currently in Wisconsin, a judge will specify how many years someone will spend in prison, known as initial confinement, and how many years a person will be monitored in the community, known as extended supervision.
This system is known as “truth in sentencing” and has been in effect in Wisconsin since 2000. The truth-in-sentencing law was approved in 1998 and had broad bipartisan support at the time.
It was introduced by then-state Rep. Scott Walker and signed by Gov. Tommy Thompson, both Republicans, but also had support from then-Attorney General James Doyle, a Democrat.
The law, among the toughest in the nation, requires all prisoners to serve every day of the sentence imposed by a judge.
ARCHIVE: The price of truth in sentencing is estimated at $1.8 billion for inmates through 2025 (Published 2004)
What about parole?
Before truth in sentencing, there was the parole system.
A judge sentenced a person to prison and after a certain time period, he or she became eligible for parole.
Then it was up to the parole commission to decide if the person should stay behind bars or go out into the community on supervision.
Who is eligible for parole today?
Those who were sentenced under the old system, which means anyone convicted of a crime committed before Dec. 31, 1999.
About 8% of the state's 20,235 in-custody prisoners were sentenced under the parole system, according to Wisconsin Department of Corrections data.
The state reported that 1,784 people in custody had at least one parole-eligible offense at the end of August. The average age of those individuals is 52.4 years old.
When are people eligible for parole?
By law, a person is eligible for parole after serving 25% of their sentence.
For those individuals sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed before July 1, 1988, they became eligible for parole after serving 13 years and four months in prison.
For those sentenced to life for crimes committed between July 1988 and Dec. 31, 1999, the judge set the eligibility date. After a change in state law, judges had the option of imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for crimes committed after Aug. 31, 1995.
Again, this only applies to the people sentenced under the parole system, which is anyone convicted of a crime committed before Dec. 31, 1999.
ARCHIVE: Secretive system keeps parole-eligible inmates behind bars (Published 2014)
Are there mandatory release dates for those sentenced under the old parole system?
Yes.
In general, people serving non-life sentences are required by law to be released on parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence in prison.
What is 'discretionary parole'?
Discretionary parole is the release of people at any time between when they become parole eligible and their mandatory release date.
Who makes parole decisions?
The four-member Wisconsin Parole Commission decides if people should be released on parole, not the governor.
The commission considers if a person:
Is eligible for parole.
Served sufficient time for punishment given the severity of their offense.
Completed programs and had a positive record while incarcerated.
Has a “workable parole plan” for housing, employment and other programming, if needed.
Has reduced their risk to the public, taking into account past record, record inside the prison and any prior violations.
One commissioner interviews the inmate. Crime victims have a right to make a statement or provide materials to the commission.
The commission, also known as the parole board, is led by a chairman appointed to a two-year term by the governor and subject to state Senate confirmation. Other commission members are hired from the civil service system.
Evers has appointed Christopher Blythe as chairman. The commissioners are Shannon Pierce, Jennifer Kramer and Douglas Drankiewicz.
How often is the parole board granting release before the mandatory date?
During Evers' time in office, from 2019 to now, the commission has released 461 people on discretionary parole before their mandatory release date. That represents 51.5% of the total paroles issued in that timeframe.
In Walker's eight years as governor, from 2011 to 2019, discretionary paroles made up 47.46% (663 people) of total parole releases, according to commission data.
How often do people on discretionary parole commit new crimes?
From 2019 through this year, 48 people on discretionary parole, or about 10.4%, had a "criminal violation” of their parole, which means it involves a potential, but not confirmed, violation of the law.
From 2011 to 2019, about 23% of those released on discretionary parole had a criminal violation, according to commission data.
Does a person's age affect how likely they are to re-offend?
Yes.
In general, the recidivism rate drops as people age.
Of the 1,265 individuals aged 50 and older who were released in 2019, about 6.6% were reincarcerated in Wisconsin within one year of release, according to Department of Corrections data.
That means they either were revoked for breaking a rule of their supervision, rearrested or convicted of a new offense.
The figure includes all individuals released that year, both those under the old parole system and the current truth-in-sentencing system.
How is truth in sentencing different from parole?
Under truth in sentencing, judges give "bifurcated" sentences of initial confinement and extended supervision.
What is initial confinement?
The amount of time someone must spend behind bars in prison.
It costs taxpayers $43,680 each year to incarcerate one adult male prisoner and $49,515 for each adult female prisoner.
What is extended supervision?
Someone on extended supervision lives out in the community but still is monitored by a state probation agent.
If a person breaks the rules of their extended supervision, he or she can be “revoked."
Once revoked, they can be given a set period of time in custody for the violation, required to serve out the rest of their sentence in prison or forced to re-serve all of their extended supervision time in prison, meaning they would serve more than the rest of their time behind bars.
You do not have to be convicted of a new crime to be revoked and sent back to prison. A Journal Sentinel investigation in 2018 found that re-incarcerating people for breaking the rules was costing Wisconsin taxpayers more than $100 million every year.
Under truth in sentencing, can someone be released early from initial confinement?
Sometimes.
A person can request a reduction in their initial confinement time in prison if they qualify for and complete earned release programs, such as boot camp and substance abuse treatment.
A judge must have found them eligible for those programs at sentencing. Only those who were convicted of a non-violent, non-assault offense can be considered.
The Department of Corrections then sets "suitability criteria" for those who are eligible, considering time served, release date and custody classification, according to an agency spokesman.
If someone gets into the program and successfully completes it, their request for a reduced sentence — turning part of their initial confinement time into extended supervision — goes back to the judge for approval.
There are other limited circumstances when prisoners can apply to have a reduction in their time behind bars but those typically require approval from a judge, too.
Elderly and severely ill prisoners can apply for what’s known as compassionate release if they reach a certain age and time-served benchmarks, or have chronic conditions that doctors certify cannot be properly treated in prison. People convicted of serious felonies, such as first-degree sexual assault, and those serving life sentences are not eligible.
Wisconsin historically has rarely used compassionate release, in part because most of the elderly prisoners were sentenced under the old parole system and are not eligible.
More: Release programs for sick and elderly prisoners could save millions. But states rarely use them.
Are there rules for how long someone can be in prison on initial confinement?
Yes.
Wisconsin lawmakers passed maximum felony sentencing guidelines in 2001:
Class A: Life in prison
Class B: 40 years in prison, 20 years extended supervision
Class C: 25 years in prison, 15 years extended supervision
Class D: 15 years in prison, 10 years extended supervision
Class E: 10 years in prison, 5 years extended supervision
Class F: 7.5 years in prison, 5 years extended supervision
Class G: 5 years in prison, 5 years extended supervision
Class H: 3 years in prison, 3 years extended supervision
Class I: 18 months in prison, 2 years extended supervision
Although Class A felonies, such as first-degree intentional homicide, carry a mandatory life sentence, a judge has the option to specify a date in the future when the person can apply for extended supervision or they can sentence a person to life without the possibility of extended supervision.
If a prisoner can apply for extended supervision at a certain point, he or she must show by clear and convincing evidence they are not a danger to the public.
Does every felony conviction always result in prison time?
No.
Under state law, sentences should include the minimum amount of in-custody time consistent with protecting the public, the gravity of the offense and the rehabilitative needs of the person being sentenced.
When is probation used?
Sometimes judges sentence people to probation on low-level felonies instead of putting them behind bars.
Judges also could give a prison sentence, but then stay or postpone it to see how the person does on probation.
In general, probation refers to a time period of community supervision before someone serves any time in prison.
Parole and extended supervision also involve community supervision but come after someone has served time in prison.
What is a pardon?
A pardon is not the same as parole and it only comes after someone has served their sentence.
A pardon eliminates the legal impact of a felony conviction, which can make it hard to obtain housing, jobs and education. It does not expunge the record of the offense or remove it from Wisconsin’s online court system.
Evers has issued more than 600 pardons during his term. The vast majority were given to people convicted of low-level nonviolent crimes.
Walker did not issue any pardons during his eight years in office.
How do people get a pardon?
People must wait at least five years from the end of their sentence, including the time they were on extended supervision, to request a pardon.
They write to the pardon board to explain how they’ve changed and contribute to the community.
The eight-member pardon review board reviews the materials and recommends people to the governor, who ultimately decides whether to issue a pardon.
Corri Hess of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Ashley Luthern at ashley.luthern@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aluthern.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How parole, probation and truth in sentencing works in Wisconsin
