Dant'e Cottingham , who was formerly incarcerated, brings his perspective on the criminal justice system to students in a UW Law School class. | Photo courtesy UW Law School

A new class at the University of Wisconsin Law School aims to teach students about the perspectives of different people who are part of the criminal justice system, including those who are incarcerated. 

Dant’e Cottingham, one of the course instructors, was himself once locked up inside Wisconsin’s prison system. He said that according to stigma, he’s not supposed to be in the classroom.

“So I’m aware of that, and I carry that,” Cottingham said. “That’s important to me, because I want to make sure that the city, the state, the country knows that we are a lot more than our worst mistake.”

Instructing the class along with Cottingham is Adam Stevenson, a clinical professor and director of the Frank J. Remington Center, which houses the law school’s prison-based clinics as well as the public defender and prosecution externships. While Cottingham has the experience of being incarcerated in the prison system, Stevenson brings to the course the legal expertise of a law professor, and one who has worked with a program focused on legal assistance to incarcerated people. 

The Wednesday class, which has 19 students enrolled this semester,  counts for two credits. It’s titled “Criminal Justice System: A Lived Experience Perspective.” The class, examining how theory, policy and practice line up with reality — or diverge from it, according to the syllabus, may continue in the future depending on how this semester goes. 

In 1996, Cottingham was convicted of being party to a crime for first-degree intentional homicide for an offense that occurred when he was 17. While incarcerated, Cottingham applied to UW Madison’s program for legal assistance for incarcerated people and was assigned two law students who worked to help him win his release, he said. He was paroled in 2022. 

Cottingham served as interim associate director of the group Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, and spoke publicly about Green Bay Correctional Institution, where he spent some of his imprisonment, and which has been the subject of criticism for inhumane conditions and calls to close the facility. Now 47, Cottingham is the reentry and outreach support specialist for the Remington Center. He said he helps men and women who are transitioning from incarceration.  

“I sit with people, build a rapport, get some insight and understanding to what their needs are,” Cottingham said. A person’s needs might involve housing, employment or medical care. 

Cottingham said that when he gave presentations in classes in the past,  students engaged with his description of his own experience, and he saw a need for the course he’s teaching now.

The experience of re-entering society after prison is one topic on the course schedule Cottingham shared with the Examiner. The arrest process, the trial process, sentencing, systemic inequality in criminal justice, and incarceration, and advocacy for reform and future directions are among the other course topics.

Guest speakers in the class range from Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy, to Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett, to Sharmain Harris, whose book “Rising Above the Odds: My Journey from Pain and Prison to Power and Purpose” is one of the required materials for the course. Requirements include book reports that analyze autobiographies of people who have experienced incarceration. 

Jini Jasti, a spokesperson for University of Wisconsin Law School, said UW Law’s motto is “Law in Action.” She said the school does not only teach the law on the books but also encourages students to see how it works from different perspectives, such as those of prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, defendants and prisoners.  

“This unique class complements our other offerings, allowing students to hear about our trial, appellate and prison systems from someone who’s lived it,” Jasti said in a statement. 

State Public Defender Jennifer Bias and Robert Taliaferro, who was formerly incarcerated, visited the class on Wednesday. 

Bringing in these different perspectives helps  “tease out topics that we should be discussing when we’re talking about what the law is, how the law should operate etc.,” Stevenson said in a Jan. 16 interview with the Wisconsin Examiner. “One person’s perspective is definitely great in doing that, but having multiple perspectives and the potential disagreement, or the clash, if you will, can also give rise to some really rich conversation.”  

Stevenson said students will be graduating and working with clients as attorneys, and understanding the perspectives of people in the criminal justice system is important. 

Lara Hendrix, a third year law student, is planning to be a public defender after graduation. She said she thought the class would be valuable for her future career. 

Hendrix hopes that eventually people who don’t plan to practice criminal law take the class. 

“These are real people with families, and people that love them, and other people that are affected,” Hendrix said, “and that needs so much more attention than it gets.”

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Teng Vang, 43, assigned to Oshkosh Correctional Institution died Thursday at a hospital. | Photo courtesy Wisconsin Department of Corrections

A ‘physical disturbance’ involving three incarcerated people occurred on Wednesday afternoon at Oshkosh Correctional Institution, Oshkosh police said in a statement. The department said it is investigating a death that occurred after the disturbance. 

Beth Hardtke, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, told the Examiner that Teng Vang, 43, died Thursday at a hospital. He was assigned to Oshkosh Correctional Institution. 

Police said a 43 year-old incarcerated person who assaulted another incarcerated person was secured by prison staff. He experienced a medical emergency and was transported to a local hospital. 

Hardtke wrote that the Oshkosh Police Department is investigating the death and the Department of Corrections is fully cooperating with the investigation.

Vang was found guilty of crimes including attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety. He was released on extended supervision in 2022, which was revoked in 2024. 

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ICE Police at Immigration Detention Center. Oneida tribal leaders in Wisconsin announced they would end a contract to build ICE facilities with a the Oneida Engineering Science Construction Group and apologized saying they were previously unaware of the agreement. | Getty Images

Oneida Engineering Science Construction Group (OESC), a Limited Liability Company (LLC) of the Oneida Nation, is taking action to terminate two contracts it has with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide engineering services to at least 34 ICE facilities.

The action comes after tribal leaders only recently became aware of the contracts that OESC has through a subsidiary company: Oneida Environmental (OE) that is working in a joint venture with Stantec JV, called Oneida-Stantec JV, LLC.

In a Jan. 2 Oneida Live online meeting, Tribal Chairman Tehassi Hill said he had just learned of the ICE contracts on Monday morning, Dec. 29 through social media posts.

“I want to make sure that I clearly state that the Oneida Business Committee (OBC, the agency that runs the tribe when the tribal governing board is not in session) was not aware of this joint venture or the signing of the contract,” said Hill. “I also stand strong in my words and conviction that the business venture does not align with the nation’s values, our culture and who we are as Haudenosaunee People, and it is something the committee would have never entertained had it been made aware of this.”

Jeff House, chief executive officer (CEO) of OESC, took full responsibility for the contracts, adding  that his motives were to provide a service to ensure the ICE facilities were habitable for residents and also as a business venture to sustain the operation of the LLC’s 500 employees.

“I deeply apologize,” House said. “The decision did come to me and I green-lighted the proposals to go forward, and I know it was a huge mistake.”

House said when he made the decision he wanted  to ensure the facilities would be “up to code, making sure they meet human standards, making sure that it’s properly engineered.” And, he added, “while I don’t approve and am appalled by the ICE activities, these people are being detained and put in a facility somewhere, and what had gone through my mind was, ‘Who’s taking care of them? Who’s looking out for their best interest?’ As much as I have disdain for the ICE activities going on, that’s where my mind went, and I was flabbergasted that I didn’t reach out further and get more information.”

House said he was aware of the recent controversy involving the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas to terminate a subsidiary contract with ICE for designing large-scale migrant detention centers, and he applauded the Potawatomi Chairman for noting how Indian people had been treated by the federal government by being placed on reservations and drew parallels to ICE activities.

House said he hadn’t considered the history of tribes and detention when he pursued the ICE contracts, but was more focused on ensuring the ICE facilities would be humane facilities.

According to the Federal Procurement Data System for Oneida-Stantec JV LLC, the recent ICE contract signed on Dec. 26 is for $3.777 million, and another contract signed on Sept. 19 is for $2.601 million.

House said the immediate goal is to begin the process of terminating the Dec. 26 contract, but he noted that the Sept. 19 contract, initiated under the administration of former President Joe Biden, would be more complicated to terminate because work had already begun under that contract.

House emphasized the LLC  would sustain any loss or liability as it pursued the terminations.

To avoid potential liability to the tribe, Chairman Hill noted that the tribe doesn’t directly operate OESC or participate in day-to-day operations to maintain a “corporate veil.”

In a press release, the tribe explained the “corporate veil” is “a legal concept that recognizes a company as a separate legal entity distinct from its shareholders, and it protects shareholders from personal liability for the company’s debts and obligations (meaning the company itself is responsible for its own liabilities).”

However, the OBC does appoint members to the corporate board of OESC, and there are regular reports from the LLC to the OBC.

“It is important to reiterate that the Oneida Business Committee does not approve, negotiate or manage individual contracts of its subsidiaries,” said Hill, “and only provides high-level oversight.”

Hill read a recently passed OBC resolution that directs business decisions to reflect the Oneida Nation values and specifically states that “any employee or representative of Oneida Nation and its tribal corporations to disengage with all grant agreements and contracts that involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

In the future, House said, he will keep the OBC informed of any gray areas of concern.

In 2025, House said, OESC processed $177 million in revenue and made $12 million in profit, most of which was reinvested in the LLC, with a small amount given to the tribe’s general fund. He estimated the valuation of the LLC as somewhere between $80-100 million.

House said one of his primary concerns in securing contracts, most of which are for engineering services, is keeping the LLC’s 500 employees on the job.

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Wrongly convicted people in Wisconsin can wait months to have their cases reviewed and receive compensation that does not meet their needs, advocates say. A bipartisan bill in the state Legislature aims to address those problems. | Photo by Caspar Benson/Getty Images

On Dec. 3, a committee of Wisconsin lawmakers heard from Gabriel Lugo about his time in prison before his conviction was overturned. 

Lugo testified through a statement read by attorney Rex Anderegg in a hearing of the Assembly Committee on State Affairs. He said he experienced constant lockdowns that severely restricted his movement and some correctional officers treating him as less than human. 

Lugo, 36, was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide in 2009 and spent the majority of his incarceration in Waupun Correctional Institution, the state’s oldest prison, which has received scrutiny for prison deaths and living conditions. After Lugo’s conviction was overturned, he was released from jail in June 2023.

According to Christopher Lau of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, the project has helped exonerate more than 30 people. Clients leave prison with medical ailments and emotional trauma, without familial support, employment, savings, and often, with nowhere to call home, his testimony stated. Many struggle to re-enter society. 

Exonerees often have to wait months to get on the agenda for the claims board’s meetings, Lau stated. If they qualify, the law doesn’t provide enough to ensure stable housing, he said, “to say nothing of the costs of social services like counseling, vocational assistance and access to health insurance.” 

The Wisconsin Claims Board can award up to $25,000 in compensation, at a rate not greater than $5,000 per year for the imprisonment, and has also awarded attorney fees. It can recommend that the state Legislature issue additional compensation. 

In February 2016, the Assembly unanimously approved a bill that aimed to increase state support for wrongly convicted people, including enabling the claims board to issue higher payouts. It did not become law. 

AB 583, a bill currently in the Legislature, also aims to provide more aid more quickly to wrongly convicted people. Under the bill, a wrongly convicted person would receive compensation at a yearly rate of $50,000, prorated daily, for the imprisonment; the total would not exceed $1 million. The claims board would adjust the rate yearly to account for the cost of living, and it would be able to award compensation in an annuity payable over time. 

The bill addresses when people who received compensation for wrongful imprisonment in the past can petition for more under the new law, potentially allowing some to receive more compensation. 

The bill lays out when wrongly convicted people could have health care coverage under plans offered by the Group Insurance Board to state employees. 

Under the bill, if a person is released from imprisonment on the basis of a claim of innocence, they could petition for a court order directing the Department of Corrections to create a transition-to-release plan. They could also petition for a financial assistance award of up to 133% of the federal poverty level for up to 14 months, or while compensation proceedings are pending, whichever is shorter. 

State legislators who introduced the bill included Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, submitted testimony in support of the bill. 

The bill bars some people from filing a petition with the claims board for compensation for wrongful imprisonment, such as a person who is convicted of a violent crime after being released. 

Records-sealing language

Also under the bill, a person released from imprisonment on the basis of a claim of innocence could petition the court for the sealing of all records related to the case. For Lugo, it took about two years to get a response from job applications because his case was still visible online, his statement said. 

A similar provision in the bill that the Assembly passed in 2016 drew pushback from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, which argued that it would “dramatically compromise the ability of media and the public to examine what went wrong in cases in which things are known to have gone terribly wrong.”

On Dec. 22, the Wisconsin Examiner reached out to the office of Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek), one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, about the provision and the council’s concern in 2016. 

“Thank you for bringing this information to our attention as we were not aware of this when we introduced the bill this session,” Rodriguez said in an emailed comment. “The organization has not reached out to us with any concerns at this time.”

Lawsuits

Wrongly convicted people may also attempt to obtain a monetary award through lawsuits. The bill addresses the possibility of a person receiving a settlement, judgement or award for damages in a federal or state action related to their wrongful imprisonment. 

Under one of these parts of the bill, if the person obtains a settlement before the claims board awards them compensation, the claims board would subtract the amount from the board’s compensation. 

Changing the process

Under current law, the claims board is responsible for finding whether the evidence of the person’s innocence is “clear and convincing.” 

The claims board members come from the Department of Justice, the Department of Administration, the Office of the Governor, the Wisconsin Senate and the Wisconsin Assembly. The Senate and Assembly members are Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) and Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Markesan).

Under the bill, when the claims board receives a petition for compensation for an innocent convict, it would be referred to the Division of Hearings and Appeals in the Department of Administration. The division would find whether the evidence is clear and convincing that the petitioner was innocent of the crime they were imprisoned for. 

If the evidence is clear and convincing for innocence, the division would transmit its findings to the claims board, which would decide what amount of compensation would be equitable. 

Individual bills

In a decision dated Jan. 30 of this year, the claims board awarded $25,000 to Gabriel Lugo, plus approximately $77,000 in attorney fees, and recommended that the Legislature award him an additional $750,000.

According to Rodriguez, the Legislature has only passed individual appropriation bills awarding additional compensation three times. 

Rodriguez’s testimony stated that it’s estimated that around 72 people have been exonerated in Wisconsin since 1990, and that seven received recommendations for compensation above the cap. She stated in a press release that “the Legislature should not have to play judge and jury again” when there is already a process at the claims board. 

“Without these reforms, exonerees would continue to need individual appropriation bills to receive an adequate amount of compensation,”  Rodriguez stated in a press release. “These bills have rarely been acted upon, and even more rarely are signed into law.”

The board has also recommended that the Legislature issue additional compensation for Robert and David Bintz, who were released from prison in the fall of last year.

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Chequamegon Family Restaurant, also known as the Ashland Family Restaurant, where two workers were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Monday, Dec. 15. (Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner)

Federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested two individuals at the Chequamegon Family Restaurant (also known as the Ashland Family Restaurant) Monday, Dec. 15 in the city of Ashland in far northern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior.

This is the second arrest ICE agents have made in the Ashland/Bayfield area since July when an individual was arrested at Washburn Iron Works in the city of Washburn.

The Ashland City Police Department issued a statement Friday, Dec. 19 saying that ICE and U.S. Border Patrol officers had informed the police department that federal officers had a federal warrant for two individuals at the “Ashland Family Restaurant.”

The police department noted the federal officers had “picked up” one employee in the morning, and then returned after requesting that a city police officer be present because “the restaurant staff was very upset with them the first time they were there.”

A Dec. 15 police dispatch report notes that Officer Mark Campry was requested at 12:04 p.m. to the restaurant. 

According to the police statement, when the federal officers returned with the local police officer there was a request to open the doors and a second person was taken into custody.

The police did not say what type of warrant ICE had to make the arrest. ICE has not yet responded to a request for that information.

Alexandra Guevara of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant workers’ rights organization, says there is an important difference between judicial warrants, signed by judges in cases where individuals are wanted for a crime, and ICE administrative warrants, which lack the same force.

“Nobody should open their doors for an ICE warrant. It’s an illegal instrument,” Guevara said.  “When we do our Know Your Rights trainings, it’s the first thing we tell people — you have to be able to get a warrant that is actually signed by a judge, that includes your address, that includes your name, your official name, and you have the ability to get that warrant, send it to a lawyer, send a picture to a lawyer, and ask, ‘Should I open the door or not?’”

Reporters for the Ashland Daily Press said they also were told by an employee of Deltco, a plastics manufacturer, that an employee at the plant was taken in custody by the federal officers Monday. Deltco management did not return calls from the Wisconsin Examiner attempting to verify whether an employee had been arrested.

Voces de la Frontera has identified one of the restaurant employees, a cook, as Luis Davids Coatzeozon Gomes, but has not been able to find out where he is being held.

“One of the things that happens with some of these detentions is that they’re detained and immediately sent somewhere else,” said Guevara, “so they don’t need to report them. And I mean, that creates a lot of confusion, that makes it impossible for their families to find them. It also makes it very difficult for lawyers to represent them, because they need to be in one place to be represented by a lawyer who can have access to them.”

She added, “We know that the ACLU has been dealing with that, talking all over the nation about how difficult it is now to trace where people are being taken because they’re being moved every two to three days, sometimes crossing state borders, like even being sent to places as far as Florida from here. And that makes it very, very difficult to know exactly how many people have been detained because they’re not being reported here.”

Guevara said most ICE detainees in Wisconsin are held, at least temporarily, in the Dodge County Jail. However, nearby Douglas County also has an agreement to hold ICE detainees. The ACLU reported in September that the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office had billed ICE for detaining 111 persons since the beginning of 2025.

State Rep. Angela Stroud, (D-Ashland) questioned why a city police officer accompanied the federal officers making an immigration arrest.

“My view on this is, if there’s probable cause that someone committed a crime, then you know, that’s a reasonable thing for the police to be involved in, because clearly, fighting crime is part of what we want to happen in our communities,” she said.

In answer to a question about the police involvement in the arrest, Ashland City Police Chief Bill Hagstrom sent the Ashland Daily Press a citation from the city’s police manual, 416.6 “Federal Request for Assistance” that states: “requests by federal immigration officials for assistance from this department should be directed to a supervisor. The Department may provide available support services, such as traffic control or peacekeeping efforts.”

Rep. Stroud also expressed concern about taking workers from employers struggling to maintain adequate staffing during a labor shortage in a city of fewer than 8,000 people.

“We have problems finding people to work generally around here,” she said, “and you know, we have an aging population. We have a lot of workforce shortages. What is the big picture goal here, and how does it help our community? How does this help our community?  I would like someone to explain that. And I recognize people need to, you know, follow immigration laws, but we’re seeing more and more that even people who do follow the law are being deported. And it’s just irrational. I don’t understand the big picture goal, except maybe to terrorize communities, and that’s, needless to say, is completely unethical.”

She added, “Unfortunately, we’re seeing these large raids and sweeps of people who are working and, you know, sometimes we’re even finding people who are American citizens getting caught up in that. So I recognize that people have a lot of strong feelings on this topic.” 

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A screenshot from a video released by the Wisconsin State Public Defender that shows a youth in detention being restrained and beaten by staff at the Jonathan Delagrave Youth Development and Care Center in Caledonia on May 27, 2025.

The Wisconsin State Public Defenders Office released a video Tuesday of an incident involving a staff member repeatedly punching a then-15-year-old at a juvenile detention center.

The incident took place on May 27 and involved a youth at the Jonathan Delagrave Youth Development and Care Center in Caledonia.

 The video appears to show four staff members directing him to move from a spot by a wall in a hallway, possibly to a nearby room, and Elliott not moving. After a staff member swung at him, the situation devolved into a struggle. Elliott was struck repeatedly by staff before and after he was on the ground.

The incident occurred less than a month after the 48-bed facility opened on May 1, the State Public Defenders Office (SPD) said. According to the SPD, the teen had bruises, swelling on his right eye, blurred vision and headaches, scrapes and cuts and dried blood in his ear, based on records from evaluations arranged by the facility. 

“To the parents who have kids in a detention center, check on your babies,” said Kianna Reed, his mother.

The SPD wants its client immediately transferred from the facility and placed in a group home “where he can receive specialized therapy and support.”

“The people in this video should have never been entrusted with caring for children. This is a sickening act of violence,” State Public Defender Jennifer Bias said in a statement. 

The family is looking for an attorney for a civil lawsuit against Racine County, the SPD said. 

In the SPD release, Reed said that “seeing that video and knowing my son is still in that facility is terrifying,” and that “the staff need proper training and accountability.”

In a statement emailed to the Examiner, a Racine County spokesperson described the publicly released video as a partial record of a longer incident  and said that staff’s interaction with the youth took place over several minutes. It said the youth clenched his fists and made multiple threats of physical violence to other juveniles and staff.

“Maintaining the safety of youth and staff in our facilities is our highest priority,” Amberlyn Yohn, administrator of youth rehabilitation services, said in the county’s statement. “Situations like this are complex and unfold quickly. While one employee’s actions became the focus of this incident, our broader team followed established protocols and cooperated fully with the review process.”

The county commits to making sure staff have the training, oversight and support needed for managing difficult situations, Yohn said.

The “primarily involved staff member” was immediately placed on administrative leave after the incident and resigned within three days, Racine County said in a statement emailed to the Examiner. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, his name is Robert Knight, and he told the Journal Sentinel his actions were justified based on Elliott’s history at the center. He disputed that he resigned because of the investigation.

A different worker seen repeatedly striking the teen was ordered to complete eight hours of remedial training and appears to still be employed at the facility, according to the public defender’s office. Three of the four staff members involved are still employed at the center, according to the public defender’s office, which obtained records showing the staff’s employment status.

Knight said her son was displaying signs of aggression at the time of the incident, according to the Journal Sentinel. He said he intended to force the boy back rather than strike him.

The teen had been found guilty of charges of retail theft and obstructing an officer.

A new alternative

Efforts to close the Lincoln Hills facility have not yet proven successful, and its location makes it difficult for youth there to maintain contact with their community and families.

Years after a 2017 lawsuit filed over abuses, Gov. Tony Evers announced in October that the state had reached full compliance with all of the court-ordered reforms. The Department of Corrections’ website describes plans to build smaller facilities and keep youth closer to home.

In addition, the state has awarded money to counties to establish Secure Residential Care Centers for Children and Youth (SRCCCY). Milwaukee’s is expected to open in 2026; Racine’s is the only one that is currently open. The county website says it provides a “structured and rehabilitative environment for male youth.”

The facility was built as an alternative to the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons, the SPD said in its release. Some juvenile offenders can now go to the facility instead of Lincoln Hills, Eileen Fredericks, the SPD’s youth defense practice coordinator, told the Examiner.

Fredericks said that “we only have one, and then shortly after it opens, we have this really serious incident.”

The county’s website says that youth are placed in the SRCCCY under a statute that requires that the youth committed an act that would carry a sentence of six months or more if the youth were an adult. The youth also must have been found to be a danger to the public and in need of restrictive custodial treatment.

In the weeks before the facility opened in May, the Racine County Eye reported that officials said the center is a more cost-effective and compassionate alternative to state-run youth correctional facilities such as Lincoln Hills.

According to the public defender’s office, at the time of the incident, the teen was a few weeks into a five and a half-month period of participation in the SRCCCY’s RISE-UP program. He has been in detention consistently since December 2024, the SPD office said.

In the SPD’s release, Bias argued that building “shiny new prisons” won’t prevent situations like what happened to the teen. 

“We need meaningful reforms to the way our children are treated in the juvenile justice system,” Bias said. “We need judges who will prioritize alternatives to incarceration and detention workers who value care over punishment.”

Fredericks said she wants “these kids to be seen as kids” and that “there’s kind of this mindset that they’re less than kids, because they’ve done something wrong.”

Transparency concern

Bias accused the county of seeking to “sweep this incident under the rug.” The public defender’s office called for a “full-scale” investigation into conditions at the facility and the qualifications of staff members who interact with children. 

Reed told the Examiner she did not see any of the video released Tuesday by the SPD until October. 

In its statement, the county said that immediately after the May 27 incident, the mother of the youth and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections were notified. The Examiner reached out to the DOC and was told that the Jonathan Delagrave facility is county-run, and questions regarding personnel or those housed there are best directed to Racine County. 

The county said important privacy protections for juveniles must be respected, but that the county has been and remains transparent in its response to the incident. 

Law enforcement and independent human services agencies fully investigated and reviewed the incident, the county said. The details of the investigation and relevant video were provided to the Racine County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to pursue prosecution, the county said.

Warning: the video released by the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office contains graphic footage of violence against a child.

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday that he has signed 34 bills into law, including a bill requiring judges to sentence offenders to at least 10 years in prison if convicted of a human trafficking crime and 15 years for a child trafficking crime. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday that he has signed 34 bills into law, including a bill requiring judges to sentence offenders to at least 10 years in prison if convicted of a human trafficking crime and 15 years for a child trafficking crime. 

“Crimes of this nature — most especially when it comes to our kids — should be punishable by the full extent of the law,” Evers said in a statement. “With this bill, we are helping ensure that we’re protecting some of our most vulnerable youth and holding predators accountable, most especially when they prey on our kids.”

The bill includes increases to the maximum amounts of prison time a person can receive for human and child trafficking crimes, and it allows more time for prosecution of human trafficking crimes. 

Human trafficking involves using force, fraud or coercion for labor, services or a commercial sex act. Trafficking of a child can involve a knowing attempt to recruit a child for commercial sex acts. Wisconsin trafficking law also bans benefiting from trafficking or knowingly receiving compensation from the earnings of debt bondage, a prostitute or a commercial sex act. 

Last month, the Wisconsin Examiner reported on lawmakers’ reasons for supporting the bill, such as preventing human traffickers from doing further harm. Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond Du Lac) cited cases that appeared to have taken place in other states in which people convicted of sex trafficking received between six and eight years in prison. 

The Examiner reported on criminal justice advocacy groups and attorneys’ criticisms of the mandatory minimums, including a concern from attorneys that judges would sentence people who are trafficking victims themselves to the mandatory minimum punishment without being able to consider whether the person deserved a lighter sentence because their trafficking crime was influenced by their trafficker. The bill didn’t contain an exception to the mandatory minimum for that type of situation. While Wisconsin law allows a defense in court for people who committed a crime as a “direct result” of trafficking, that didn’t allay critics’ concerns.

The anti-sex trafficking organization Shared Hope International gave Wisconsin law failing grades on multiple categories relevant to survivors of child sex trafficking: “protection from unjust criminalization,” “legal relief” and “survivor-centered supports.” The analysis was based on laws enacted as of July 1. 

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