We appreciate the number of questions we have received since our proposal went public and was drafted into a resolution for the Board of Supervisors’ consideration (as 2022-RES-136). Below, we have compiled answers to some of the most frequent questions.

On Jail Size

How can a 725-bed jail work?

First, with respect to capacity, our 725-bed design for the jail is only 38 beds below the 825-bed design called for previously. This is because the previous design included 62 acute medical beds, which are not suitable for the general population. The 725-bed design does not include acute medical beds; we propose that any residents who need hospital care should receive that care at a hospital.

There is no one silver bullet that will reduce the size of the jail. The elimination of Huber beds in the jail, which the Board of Supervisors called for in the previous design (and is also included in ours) is a good start. 2022 RES-136 includes a list of additional proposals that will reduce the jail population. 

Initiatives on multiple fronts can add up to a sizable reduction in the jail population, even if each initiative only saves a modest number of beds. Here are several examples:

1. Weekend/Holiday Court: This reduces the peaking factor—the number of beds in the jail that are needed beyond the average daily population. Weekend/holiday court could also help in the middle of week when there are still people waiting for initial appearances. Keeping ahead by a few days helps the whole system operate more efficiently.

2. Population Review Team: This team identifies individuals who have been in the jail more than 7 days, have a bail amount less than $1,000, and are not a risk to the community. For such cases, the team can work with a judge to change the bail amount. The team can also identify people who should not be in jail or who have been waiting an excessive amount of time for some part of the process to happen. The team will need the cooperation of all stakeholders to move people through the jail more efficiently.

3. Process Review: Ongoing reporting can identify ways that processes and tracking can be improved to reduce delays as people move through the criminal justice system.

4. Department of Corrections (DOC) holds: There needs to be an ongoing discussion with DOC to identify alternatives to incarceration and to reduce the length of stay in jail.

5. Diversion Programs: There are multiple diversion programs that keep people out of the jail. CAMP (alternative monitoring with a wearable device) is just one example that has already been successful and could be expanded. These should be continually evaluated to determine how they can be expanded and improved.

The jail population is growing. Doesn’t that mean we need a bigger jail?

No.

The growing population means that the stakeholders in the criminal justice system and the community need to increase support for efforts that divert people from incarceration and to address underlying issues of poverty, treatment, housing, education, employment, and opportunity. 2022-RES-136 is only one step.

We need further reforms, better support of community programs, and an ongoing commitment to work toward an end to poverty and systemic racism. We need these things to better support Dane County residents, and these things will lower our jail population, too.

Safely keeping the jail population low should be the collective concern of all of the stakeholders and the community.

As we note on the main page and in 2022-RES-136—and as the JFA Institute and the data repeatedly tell us—systemic racism and racial disparity are driving the jail population.

Backup in the criminal legal system is also driving the jail population. On 7/21/2020, the sheriff’s daily report records 150 people in pretrial status (waiting for trial) and on 8/1/2022 that same report records 318 people in pretrial status—a higher level than the pre-COVID levels in 2020. This change accounts for 59% of the increased jail population between those dates. As the courts resolve the backed-up cases created during the pandemic, these numbers should return to pre-pandemic levels.

The population of Dane County is also growing, but the growth is mainly a shift to an older population. This population is at low risk of incarceration, so it should not result in a proportional increase in jail population.

Does racial bias affect the population in the Dane County jail?

Yes.

The Dane County jail population data show beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is severe systemic racism in the Dane County law enforcement/criminal justice/penal system. That can no longer be denied or tolerated. The elimination of that racism can reduce the jail population by more than 200 jail residents per day on average.

Dr. James Austin, from the JFA Institute, made that point forcefully in his presentation to the Criminal Justice Council (CJC) on 7/28/2022.

A 725-bed jail sends a message that Dane County is not satisfied with the status quo and will address this issue.

Does this proposal assume that madison police department arrest rates will continue at the (Lower) 2020 and 2021 levels?

Not exclusively, however, it does rely on a more robust diversion system.

In 2021, the Criminal Justice Council (CJC) polled its members to determine which policies would be sustainable.  Madison Police said that they would be able to continue their lower arrest rates. This projection must be somewhat tempered by the increasing booking data reported in the July 2022 report from JFA Institute.  The CJC needs to understand what is driving  the increase in bookings.

How important is reducing the federal rentals in the jail? 

Dane County should periodically review all of the federal individuals who are in the jail. This will help Dane County to identify categories of individuals who should not be in the Dane County Jail. For instance, we may decide not to house individuals from another county. This review should also identify individuals who have been in the Dane County Jail for long periods of time. Then, Dane County should meet with federal officials to identify individuals who will not be housed in the Dane County Jail and to develop strategies to shorten the length of stay.

Accordingly, our proposal caps federal rentals at 10% of the total jail population, with a preference for individuals from Dane County.

How will medical care be provided if the acute medical housing is removed?

To start, we are not eliminating the provision of medical care within the jail.

It is important to understand the difference between the jail clinic—which our proposal retains—and the acute medical housing. It is only the latter that we propose eliminating. We believe this is a win-win situation; it lowers costs while ensuring that jail residents who need acute care get the best care possible—in a hospital.

Madison is home to fantastic hospitals. We do not need another one in the jail.

As described in the October 2021 and July 2022 JFA Institute reports, a nationwide trend is for jails to outsource acute medical housing to hospitals. The care is superior to that which can be provided in a jail and the costs are offset by not needing to staff the medical housing with specially trained staff.

Were impacts of the Crisis Triage Center or expansion of CARES assumed in the projection?

Not really—it’s more accurate to say that an ongoing commitment to diversion, through multiple programs, is what is needed. And this is needed so that we better serve our community, in addition to meeting the goal of reducing incarceration.

Although we do expect these specific programs to have a positive impact, it is hard to gauge that numerically at this point in time. Because CARES started during the pandemic, it is hard to tease apart the effect of the pandemic and the initiation of CARES.  The six-month report on CARES shows that by February 2022 the initial team was handling two cases a day. Now that CARES has two teams and has expanded the service area, there is a potential to serve even more cases. 

A critical question is if the 911 center is dispatching CARES teams to situations that might result in incarceration. To date, CARES is just getting on its feet. We expect this diversion program to grow. In 2019, CAHOOTS (the model for CARES), handled 24,000 calls in a smaller community. It has taken them 50 years to get to where they are now. It is difficult to judge how many of those calls would have otherwise resulted in a custodial arrest, but in a presentation they reported that as years passed, 911 and law enforcement became more comfortable directing more serious cases to CAHOOTS. We do expect the impact of CARES on the criminal legal system to grow as CARES becomes more established.

The future impact of the Crisis Triage Center is even harder to judge. In a Dane County presentation, the consultants helping plan the Crisis Triage Center were asked what the impact of the center would have on the jail population. Although they were reluctant to provide a hard estimate, they did believe that it would reduce jail admissions. Given the large number of people in the jail with mental health issues, this seems likely.

Most counties in Wisconsin have built larger jails when they replaced an old jail in the last 30 years. Why doesn’t Dane County also build a bigger jail?

It turns out that for most counties, a bigger jail was a mistake.

Data from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections showed that in June 2022, the number of beds in Wisconsin county jails was 18,182, but they housed only 9,247 inmates. This means that more than 9,000 Wisconsin county jail beds were empty.

Having almost half of all jail beds empty means that the cost of operating jails is approaching double the cost that it should be. Many counties are spending millions of dollars a year on maintaining empty jail beds. Unfortunately, filling all the beds in too big of a jail won’t reduce total costs.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson stated in his book (Tommy: My Journey of a Lifetime) that he regrets his role in encouraging the expansion of jail and prison capacity in Wisconsin during his tenure. In April 2018, he also wrote an op-ed for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, stating he had “come to believe that our corrections system and incarceration practices are both financially unsustainable and provide questionable outcomes.”

How do we know that alternatives to incarceration will work to reduce the inmate population significantly while controlling crime at least as well if not better?

The ideas we are proposing are not really new or experimental.

The state of Minnesota and most western European countries have used alternatives to incarceration for several decades. La Crosse County, Wisconsin; Broward County, Florida; Miami/Dade County, Florida; and Pima County, Arizona have used alternatives to incarceration to reduce the inmate population significantly without corresponding increases in crime. 

As of June 2021, the U.S. had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with more than 2.12 million people in prison. The U.S. was followed by China, Brazil, the Russian Federation, and India.  With 655 inmates per 100,000 of population, the U.S. is by far the leader among large industrialized nations in incarceration.

Europe, Minnesota, and the other cited U.S. locations accomplished a reduction in incarceration because a critical mass of their law enforcement/criminal justice/penal system staff chose to work toward continual improvement and implement evidence-based practices in response to crime.

On jail costs

Alternatives to incarceration sounds like a nice idea but isn’t it so much more expensive than incarceration?

No.

Several jurisdictions around the U.S. have years of experience and data showing that the costs are about $100 less per client per day in alternatives programs than for clients in their jails. La Crosse County, Wisconsin; Broward County, Florida; Pima County, Arizona; and Los Angeles, California report this result over several years of effective experience with alternatives.

Several jurisdictions around the US have measured recidivism and found that the repeat offender rate of their incarcerated people was two to four times higher than it was from their alternative clients. La Crosse County, Wisconsin; Broward County, Florida; Miami/Dade County, Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee are among jurisdictions reporting results like that. Most European countries have similar results.

Is renting space in other jails a good practice?

No.

Renting beds is not good for the people occupying them, for our community, or for the budget. Housing out of Dane County takes people away from families, counsel, and the courts. JFA Institute suggests that a 5-floor jail will save 40 permanent staff. With an average staff cost of $118,000/year (Dane County Budget Book) that will be a savings of $94 million over 20 years, not even accounting for inflation.  These funds could be used to create a robust new set of diversion programs.

The largest cost for a jail is not the construction costs amortized over 20 years. The largest cost is staffing and operations. The current jail staffing and operations is $43 million for the current 1013-bed jail (2022 budget book). This cost should be significantly lower for a 725-bed consolidated jail.

How important is reducing the number of federal residents in transit? Is there a particular staffing estimate that is assumed for the reduction, therefore alleviating a concern about the current revenue?

On August 1, 2022, there were 55 federal detainees in transit within the jail, a substantial population. Reducing the number of federal jail residents could create a modest reduction in the jail population. This change added to several other modest reductions allows a 5-floor jail to be sufficient.

Cost savings come from reducing staffing.  A smaller jail and a well designed jail requires fewer staff. JFA Institute estimates that a 5-floor jail will allow the reduction of 40 staff relative to a 7-floor jail. Currently the average cost of each staff is about $118,000 or about $7.5 million each year.

Will a smaller jail help solve the jail staffing shortage in Dane County?

The short answer is yes, but read on, because the details are critical here. 

It's important to understand that for several months in the past, most public and private employers have had difficulty maintaining the number of staff that they want. The main cause is the natural retirement of baby boomers of retirement age.  This will remain a challenge for several years, since the last baby boomers will reach the age of 65 in 2030.

A smaller jail, consolidated in one place, should require less staff than the current jail facilities in three locations. The new jail should also be designed to be more labor-efficient than the old jail in other ways.

In general, the smaller the jail, the less staff that should be needed—for example, fewer guard posts to staff, fewer people to check on, etc.

It would be a serious mistake to build a larger jail with the idea of solving staffing shortages by increasing compensation to jail employees. Doing so would significantly increase the annual operating costs of the jail. Instead, we should build only as large of a jail as the data suggest we need, and ensure that the employees of that jail are treated and compensated well.

Why not save money by removing the visitation elevator?

Removing the visitation elevator has one of two impacts—either limiting in-person visitation or increasing staff costs:

1. Limiting in-person visitation: There have been proposals to move all visits to video. These proposals have been rejected by the Board of Supervisors and by the public. Video visitation is good when it allows jail residents to receive visits from people that live far away or are unable to travel to the jail. However, it costs families $0.25 a minute in Dane County. One of the reasons that visitation is important, and in-person visitation is particularly important, is that being arrested and incarcerated is a crisis in a person's life. Reconnecting to family and friends who may have been estranged may be part of rehabilitation.

2. Increasing staff costs: The Sheriff says that without an elevator, they will use the 2nd floor for in-person visitation for all jail residents. Increased staff for transporting jail residents to the 2nd floor will shift the capital cost of the elevator to the operating budget. Because either professional or personal visitation is available 7 days a week, within-jail transport can require significant staff. According to the Dane County Budget book, the average cost for a jail employee is $118,000/year, so even a modest but ongoing increase in staff will quickly outpace the cost of an elevator. Those personnel costs will also be taken from the tax levy, which is constrained by the state revenue caps rather than from the capital budget.