University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Monday, February 22, 2016
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Experience the ‘War & Peace’
Detecting Fast Radio Bursts
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Wisconsin statute prioritizes profits instead of prisoner rehabilitation UW-Madison spends nearly $1.6 million on prisonproduced furniture and other goods in 2015 fiscal year Story by Peter Coutu and Miller Jozwiak
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isconsin state statutes mandate UW-Madison and other tax-supported institutions purchase from a prison industry program that explicitly prioritizes profit over the rehabilitation of prisoners, while paying inmates a significantly lower wage than that paid in the private industry. UW-Madison purchased $1,596,515 worth of prison-produced goods—largely furniture and signage—from Wisconsin’s prison industry program, Badger State Industries, during the 2015 fiscal year. According to a Wisconsin state statute, a list of designated purchasing agencies, including UW-Madison and UW System schools, must “offer prison industries the opportunity to supply the materials, supplies, equipment or contractual services,” which the Department of Corrections lists periodically. The Bureau of Correctional Enterprises, which BSI falls under, employs roughly 600 Wisconsin inmates. BSI operates in 11 correctional facilities, where inmates produce signage, desks, tables,
seating and other office furniture that can be purchased by the state and any tax-supported institutions, according to the state statute. No maximum or minimum wage has been established for inmates who work for BSI, but they typically earn roughly $1 an hour, according to a 2013 Wisconsin Watchdog article. Though this rate is higher than most other wages for inmates employed by prisons, it is still substantially lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and the average rate paid in the same private industries. The statute explicitly ties inmates’ wages to the prison industries’ profits. It states that remaining profitable is a qualifier before inmates’ wages can be raised, saying “wages shall not be set at a rate such as to cause a deficit on operations.” In addition to a wage rate significantly lower than the rate paid in the private industry, the inmate workers are not directly given their entire earnings. BSI compensates employees by depositing credits to the inmates’ accounts. The Department of Corrections can also withhold a substantial portion of the inmates’ earnings, and has the discretion to determine how much, if any, of the earnings can be spent and for what purposes. The withholdings are used to
pay for several fees, including taxes, costs associated with inmates’ convictions or court-ordered payments, which often leaves them with wages far lower than $1 an hour. In 1993, five inmates from the Oshkosh Correctional Institution sued BSI over wage compensation. In the case George v. Badger State Industries, the judge ruled in favor of the defendant and justified the below-minimum-wage payment because the labor “is performed as part of a sentence of incarceration.” Wisconsin state statute Chapter 303 specifies that “the primary goal of prison industries shall be to operate in a profitable manner.” The same statute states that within this primary goal, inmates and residents shall be provided resources to help maintain employment following their release. Campus activist group BlackOut is trying to figure out how to address BSI’s impact on UW System schools while working with university officials, according to one of the group’s leaders, UW-Madison senior Kenneth Cole. “The goal of the prison-industrial complex is to be profitable, so basically we want to profit off of getting people in jail,” Cole said. “Sure you may have some programs set up to reduce recidivism, but you still have a stake having
KEEGAN GOVIN/THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison is statutorily obligated to purchase specific goods from Wisconsin’s prison industry program, Badger State Industries. people in your prison system.” Two of Wisconsin’s neighboring states, Illinois and Minnesota, also have state-established prison industries. But both emphasize rehabilitating prisoners first rather than operating in a profitable manner, which Wisconsin’s statute states as the primary goal. Minnesota aims to provide
suitable employment and educational training, while Illinois attempts to equip prisoners with marketable skills. In a 2013 info sheet, BSI states that minimal profits assures funding for inmate re-entry programs. BSI also states that they are able
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Estimated 20,000 flood Capitol for ‘Day Without Latinos’ protest By Andrew Bahl THE DAILY CARDINAL
ALLEN CENTENNIAL GARDEN
Luminous lanterns
A light display, bonfire and s’mores helped turn Allen Centennial Garden into a winter haven this weekend. + Photo by Kaitlyn Veto
They came in thousands, from the dairy farms of Oshkosh, from the city centers of Milwaukee and Eau Claire and from high schools in Madison, all in an attempt to give Wisconsinites a glimpse at what their state would look like without Latinos. An estimated 20,000 protesters crowded the Capitol Square Thursday to protest two bills moving through the state Legislature they say are discriminatory. The first bill, approved Tuesday by the state Assembly, would cut state funding from cities that don’t enforce immigration statutes in an effort to crack down on so-called sanc-
tuary cities. The other would prohibit the issuance of local photo identification cards that citizens can show to law enforcement. That bill has been sent to Gov. Scott Walker, who has not indicated whether he will sign it. Supporters of the bills say they would increase public safety and streamline existing laws, but the opponents who flooded Madison say they are anti-immigrant and attack a population that is already discriminated against. “Most of the immigrants in this state hide in the shadows and now we would be afraid to leave our homes,” said Madison West student Michael Portillo.
Chanting “Sí, se puede” (yes, we can) and “Wisconsin is not Arizona,” referring to that state’s controversial immigration laws, the protesters represented one of the biggest movements seen at the Capitol since the Act 10 protests of 2011. Many waved flags of Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay and other nations and played drums and noisemakers. Latin music wafted in the air outside and occasionally drowned out debate in the state Assembly chambers. The protest was entitled “A Day Without Latinos and Immigrants” and the goal of the movement was to emphasize the
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”