In December, Gabriel Lugo gave testimony to a state Assembly committee about his time in prison before he was exonerated of the crime for which he served more than a decade. He’d been serving his sentence in the Waupun Correctional Institution when his conviction was finally overturned. 

In a statement read by an attorney, Lugo said some correctional officers treated him as less than human and that prison lockdowns severely restricted his movement and made it hard for his family members to visit him. 

Living conditions at Waupun generated headlines in 2023 and 2024 about unsanitary facilities and lack of medical care. Lugo finally got out of prison in 2023, when he was exonerated of the crime he’d been convicted of in 2009. 

Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) wrote in a column in December that Lugo is her constituent and his case prompted her to co-author a reform bill with Wanggaard and Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee). Under the amended Assembly bill, wrongly convicted people who were released after Jan. 1, 2015 — like Lugo — and had already received compensation would have been able to petition for more money. But the bill did not pass the Legislature before its session ended this month.

On Friday, Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, who announced his retirement earlier this month, expressed frustration in a newsletter about the bill not passing the Legislature despite multiple attempts. He said that “people move the goalposts and come up with new (and baseless) reasons for not supporting it.”

While lawmakers in committees in both chambers voted to advance wrongful conviction compensation bills, neither chamber brought the issue up for a vote. 

It was not the first time the effort had failed. Bills that aimed to boost compensation for wrongly convicted people did not pass in 2016, 2017 or 2020.

“The failure to get this common-sense bill done has been frustrating,” Wanggaard said.

In testimony, Wanggaard called the Senate’s measure a “long-overdue bill” that would update an outdated law.

The proposed reform measure aimed to provide an eligible wrongly convicted person with $50,000 per year of imprisonment, up to a maximum of $1 million. The bill would also allow a person released on the basis of a claim of innocence to petition the court for an order directing the Department of Corrections to create a transition-to-release plan.

Currently, the Wisconsin Claims Board decides whether a person meets the standards for compensation for wrongful imprisonment. The evidence of the person’s innocence must be “clear and convincing,” and the person must not have contributed to bring about their conviction and imprisonment. The board’s five members come from the Department of Justice, the Department of Administration, the Office of the Governor, the Wisconsin Senate and the Wisconsin Assembly. 

The claims board can award $5,000 per year of imprisonment but with a total cap of $25,000, and it has also awarded attorney fees. The board can recommend a higher award to the Legislature. According to Rodriguez, since 1990, seven people have received recommendations for compensation above the $25,000 cap.

Wanggaard’s chief of staff, Scott Kelly, said in an emailed statement to the Examiner, “I don’t know what the price of someone’s freedom is, taking away their family, their support system, their job. But Senator Wanggaard knows it’s not $5,000 a year, with a maximum of $25,000.”

The board awarded Lugo the full $25,000 allowed under the law, as well as about $77,000 in attorney fees. The board recommended that the Legislature award Lugo an additional $750,000. The vote was 3-2, with Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Gillett) and Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Markesan) dissenting.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project, the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference have given testimony supportive of increasing compensation for wrongly convicted people. Christopher Lau of the Wisconsin Innocence Project testified that the project has helped exonerate more than 30 people, and that many clients struggle to re-enter society. Last year, the Examiner reported on the struggles that exonerated brothers Robert and David Bintz have experienced after leaving prison in 2024.

“After years of wrongful imprisonment, our clients leave prison without savings, without employment, and often, without a place to call home,” Lau said. They also leave with medical ailments and emotional trauma, he said. 

Rodriguez’s office said that an amendment to the Assembly bill followed discussions with Assembly lawmakers to address concerns she had heard from them and from the Department of Administration. But Rodriguez said it became clear that more discussions were needed as the legislative session wound down.

Rodriguez is optimistic that the bill can pass in the next session, she told the Wisconsin Examiner. She thinks “we can get to the finish line with enough time to work out any issues” when the Legislature reconvenes, and “finally update this process.” 

Correction: This piece has been updated to reflect that Lugo gave his testimony in December, not January

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More than 10,000 march to Wisconsin State Capitol

Indivisible Madison East estimates that more than 10,000 people came out for the third round of No Kings protests in Wisconsin’s capital city.

Madison protestors met at Brittingham Park, a public park that sits on Monona Bay, around 12:30 p.m. and, led by a group of women in Statue of Liberty costumes, marched more than a mile to the Wisconsin State Capitol. 

Protesters highlight two developments since the last No Kings protest in October: President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally launch a war with Iran and his decision to send federal immigration agents  to the Twin Cities, escalating mass deportation efforts, resulting in the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents. 

Protesters carried U.S. flags, some of them positioned upside down to signal dire distress. There were many signs critical of the Trump administration. 

Megan McKay, a Madison resident who grew up in the Chicago area, told the Wisconsin Examiner that immigration was the main issue that brought her out to protest for a third time since Trump took office, due to personal experience that has shaped her outlook. She said her father immigrated to the U.S. from Belfast, Northern Ireland when he was “wee” but received a deportation letter in 2019. She said they were lucky to be able to work through the system to allow him to stay.

“We, quote, unquote, look like we’re supposed to be here. We speak English. I feel like it’s completely unacceptable what this current administration is doing,” McKay said. “Our country was founded on immigrants. We are the land of opportunity, and we’ve completely lost sight of that.”

McKay said she thinks more people are having an “aha” moment about Trump, and she is confident there could be a blue wave in this year’s midterm elections. Wisconsin will have critical elections on the ballot for governor, the state Legislature and Congressional seats in November

As protesters marched, they chanted phrases including “One, two, three, four: we don’t want your bloody war! Five, six, seven, eight: stop the killings, stop the hate!” and “No ICE, no bombs, no billionaires.” 

On the steps of the state Capitol, they were met by the Raging Grannies, who sang songs about democracy.

Dane County Circuit Court judge and Rev. Everett Mitchell was the keynote speaker. He told the crowd he was traveling in the Middle East when  the U.S. launched the war against Iran last month. 

“I was scheduled to come home, and then… the bombs started falling on Iran. The drones started going up and the skies over the Gulf were filled with things that were not supposed to be in the sky,” he said.

Mitchell said for several days there was no word from the U.S. government to citizens traveling abroad, and no flights available to leave.

“I wanted you to sit with that idea for a moment that an America that claims to be superior, had left its citizens stuck in a foreign land because they had engaged in the war that nobody voted for,” he said. 

Mitchell said the U.S. bombing of a girl’s school in Iran on Feb. 28, which resulted in the deaths of more than 170 people including young students, felt like “history repeating itself.” He  compared it to the bombing of a Birmingham church by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963, which killed four young Black girls. He said some of the remarks that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made following the attack were stuck in his head. 

“[King] said that the tragic, unspeakable murder of those girls was not the act of a lone bomber, but it was a product of every politician who fed his constituents the stale bread of hatred,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell read the names of some of the young children who died in the attack including Hana Dehqani, who was 8, and Zahra Bahrami, who was 7. He added that  “every child deserves to have protection,” and he urged the protesters to not let their action end at the protest. 

“The outrage has to become something. The anger has to become something. The sign making, the marching, the protest, it has to become something. It has to become more votes. It has to become more bodies in the street. It has to become voices at the school board and has to become candidates on the ballot who are actually committed to the community that they serve our organization,” Mitchell said. “It has to mean something because they’re asking us to build something that is different in our world.”

 — Baylor Spears

 Thousands fill Milwaukee’s Washington Park bandshell for No Kings protest

No Kings demonstrations took place across the Milwaukee area Saturday, from the inner city to surrounding suburban communities. In Washington Park, a bandshell meant to accommodate 8,000 people was filled up with residents of all ages, races and creeds. Holding homemade signs, with some people clad in costumes, the crowd voiced its collective discontent with the war in Iran and the  policies of the Trump administration.

Near Washington Park, cars jostled for any parking they could find in the surrounding neighborhoods, as curious neighbors watched people stream past. Several local activist groups had established tents and tables, offering free information or the opportunity to join their organizations. Food trucks were parked nearby, and rally organizers encouraged people to grab a bite to eat before a planned two-mile march. Campaign workers for Francesca Hong and Sara Rodriguez, two Democratic hopefuls running in the primary to replace Gov. Tony Evers combed the crowd for potential supporters. 

Local Milwaukee rap artists and bands entertained the crowd before a short line-up of speakers took the stage, blasting the Trump administration’s policies on immigration, the wars in Iran and Gaza, military action against Venezuela, immigration, reproductive access and the rising cost of living.

Marchers filled the streets, forming a long stream that  stretched for block after block. Volunteer street marshals from local activist groups worked in tandem with the Milwaukee Police Department to block off roads and redirect traffic as the march worked its way through  neighborhoods. 

As the marchers passed, drumming and chanting, onlookers cheered. “Say it once and say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!” the protesters yelled in unison. “No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!” “Raise your voice, take a stand, no war in Iran!” 

The protest march was so large that different sections of the march had separate, simultaneous chants. “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have to go!” “From Mexico to the Phillipines, let’s end the U.S. war machine!” “No Kings, no wars, we won’t take it anymore!” Once the massive march returned to Washington Park, it took several minutes for the end of the stream of people to arrive. 

No Kings demonstrations were also organized on Milwaukee’s East Side. The surrounding suburbs of Greenfield and Shorewood also had protests, as did the more conservative communities of Waukesha, Brookfield, and Oconomowoc. 

— Isiah Holmes

3rd Congressional District’s No Kings protests continue to grow 

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District hugs the state’s border with Minnesota along the Mississippi River from Grant County in the far southwestern corner of the state up to Pierce County in the shadow of the Twin Cities. 

At No Kings protests in La Crosse and Viroqua on Saturday, area residents said they were motivated to raise their voices to support their neighbors in nearby Minnesota who were targeted by a violent immigration crackdown, and to express their displeasure with Republicans — especially Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a vocal ally of President Donald Trump who has represented the district since 2023. 

The campaign to unseat Van Orden in the 3rd CD is a closely watched contest for a swing district seat Democrats might be able to flip as they attempt to win back a majority in the House of Representatives in 2026. 

On Saturday in La Crosse and Viroqua, protesters asked about Van Orden responded with eye rolls, name calling and, in one case, a fart noise. While people who came out for the No Kings protests said they were excited for the chance to vote Van Orden out of office this fall, most said they had not yet made a decision about who to support in the district’s Democratic primary. 

In Viroqua, a community focused on art and organic food that has developed into a hippie outpost in the midst of bright red Vernon County, dozens of protesters packed the corners of the busy intersection at Main Street and Decker Street. A brass band played “This Land is Your Land” as  passers-by honked in support. 

Mark Larson, a 28-year U.S. Army veteran, said the large crowd at the Viroqua protest was a reflection of how the community feels about the president. 

“I’m optimistic the Republicans are going to be unseated, we’ll see some change,” he said. “We’ll have someone in Congress who will stand up and say no to the president. Van Orden is a disgrace.” 

Kim, a Viroqua resident who would only give her first name, moved to the area with her husband Bruce from rural Minnesota nearly three years ago to find a more inclusive place to live. 

“Being here is an antidote to despair,” she said of joining other rural residents who came out on a chilly spring morning to air their grievances with the federal government. 

Maggie Van Alstyne, a resident of nearby Westby who arrived at the protest with her face painted green and dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she’s attended protests on all three No Kings days and feels like they’ve grown each time. 

“It’s awesome people are starting to not be afraid,” she said. “More people are for this cause than against.” 

Van Alstyne complained about the Trump administration reducing people’s freedoms while making things more expensive and lamented the effect Trump’s policies have had on farmers. She said Van Orden, who sits on the House agriculture committee, is a “blowhard” who only “talks from his barstool.” 

In the larger city of La Crosse, hundreds of people lined the streets up and down the intersection of Losey Boulevard and State Road. People flying flags and singing karaoke filled the empty parking lot of a shuttered K Mart store. The honking from supportive motorists was constant. 

Lindsay Fischer, a La Crosse resident originally from the Twin Cities area, said she’d been feeling “hopeless” about her inability to do anything about the Trump administration’s ICE operations in her home town. But the protest Saturday was a way for her to voice her support for her friends and family at home who had been directly involved in resisting federal efforts. 

“We will not let tyrants take over,” she said. 

La Crosse residents Joe and Sue Anglehart said they’d been to every No Kings protest in the community. 

“We need to support citizens’ right to freedom,” Sue said. “Our country is a mess.” 

— Henry Redman

In Dodgeville, defiant cheer, chants and music even when times ‘are more dire’

In the city of Dodgeville, a community of about 4,000 people an hour west of Madison, some 450 people showed up for a three-block march and a two-hour rally. 

There was music and chanting and a poem read by its author, one time Madison police chief turned Episcopal priest David Couper.

“The more noise we make the more we make our elected officials nervous. The more they cannot ignore us,” said rally emcee, Lex Liberatore.

It was Dodgeville’s third No Kings rally. Liberatore is a United Church of Christ pastor in nearby Platteville and a member of the Dodgeville Indivisible chapter. He has helped with the previous Dodgeville No Kings events, but it was his first time on the stage.

“I thought this was a lot more energy than the previous rallies,” he told the Examiner.

The rally itself had a defiantly cheerful tone. A series of folky music performers and bands performed, with playlists that included “Solidarity Forever” and the 1960s song “For What It’s Worth.”

Liberatore told the crowd that after the October 18 No Kings rally, organizers got feedback that they wanted fewer speakers, more music and chants.

His wife, Amy Liberatore, helped lead the chanting. “I never went to boot camp, but I saw ‘An Office and a Gentleman,’” she reassured the audience.

“I don’t know but here’s the thing,” she declared in military cadence count call-and-response style. “We did not elect a king!”

The chants included mockery of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort and home. She namechecked ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her top aide, Cory Lewandowski; nodded to the Epstein files and some of those named in them, particularly Trump

Couper’s contribution was a poem he wrote, he said, in the middle of the night after the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The confessional-style piece spoke of his years training police officers, the history of lynchings and slavery and the violence carried out in the immigration enforcement raids of the last year.

“God is nauseous. He spits us out. I feel the disgust for spiritual cowardice, for those who run from the winnowing fire, those who are neither hot nor cold, but spittle,” Couper read.

The nearly 10-minute long work concluded, “We will overcome this great evil. We will be the people we have always wanted to be. We will be heroes. Let this be true.”

Organizer Myra Enloe said that while the October rally in Dodgeville was nearly twice the size, some attendees had splintered off as surrounding communities  held separate rallies in their towns and villages.

Despite the cheerful atmosphere, “I think the circumstances are more dire,” Enloe told the Examiner after the event was over. “Now we’re at war. And we’ve seen the brutality of, the cruelty of, this administration more clearly.”

The  Indivisible chapter that organized Saturday’s rally in Dodgeville had its roots in Mineral Point, a  one-time mining town south of Dodgeville that is now  a center for artists and artisans.

“There were actually some young women in Mineral Point that invited me to a meeting back in November 24 after Trump won and said, ‘What do we do?’” Enloe recalled.

A retired nurse, Enloe and some friends knew about Indivisible and decided to form a Dodgeville chapter. 

For the first No Kings rally last June, 500 people showed up at the courthouse. “We had billed it as a rural day of defiance, and so I think people from around the whole area” turned out, Enloe said.

Now more groups are forming in surrounding communities such as Spring Green, Platteville, Darlington and Mount Horeb. “All have groups that are organizing and doing more to really raise our voices in defiance of what’s happening nationally,” she said.

The group helped organize a benefit concert at the Mineral Point Opera House to raise $3,000 for the Southwest Community Action Program to use in support of immigrants.

Members are also engaging in voter education.

 “The last election, in 2024, we had 87 million people that didn’t vote,” Enloe said. “So [we’re] trying to make sure that we educate the public about what their choices are in voting, and the importance of voting. And we need everybody to get out there and make their voices heard.”

— Erik Gunn

 

In Green Bay, protesters mourn Alex Pretti

No Kings protesters gathered at St. James Park in Green Bay and began their march on Saturday, with chants including “Minneapolis to Green Bay, immigrants are here to stay” and “up, up with liberation! Down, down with deportation!”

State Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) noted the city’s connection to Alex Pretti, a high school graduate from the area.

Protesters chanted during a march in the northeast Wisconsin city where Pretti graduated from Green Bay Preble High School long before he was killed by Border Patrol in a highly scrutinized shooting in Minnesota. 

Speakers identifying with organizations including Citizen Action of Wisconsin, the Green Bay Anti-war Committee and the Northeast Wisconsin Democratic Socialists of America, raised concerns on issues ranging from the Iran war to data centers.

“And if we’re serious about this struggle, then we don’t just protest, we organize our workplaces,” a speaker with the Wisconsin Labor Party said. “We don’t just march, we build connections in our neighborhoods at home. And we don’t just resist would-be kings, we replace their power with our own.”

— Andrew Kennard

Large crowds gather in two small communities of northwest Wisconsin

Two small communities in northwest Wisconsin – Spooner in Washburn County and Siren in Burnett County – had large No Kings protests on Saturday.

In both communities, many of the demonstrators were retired people, and several noted that they had participated in other protests against the Trump administration. A few even mentioned they had protested against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown in Minneapolis this winter.

In Spooner, a city of 2,450, more than 300 people gathered at the intersection of Hwys. 63 and 70. A well-known retired WOJB radio morning host and Vietnam War Veteran, Eric Schubring, said he “was deeply troubled” by what he called a “very bad administration.” He was also troubled about the possibility of Trump deploying Marines to the Persian Gulf in the war against Iran.

Nancy Olson of Spooner said she was demonstrating because “the country is in bad shape and we have a president who acts like he has dementia, and he thinks he is above the law, and I’m against the war.”

Jesse Gronning of Shell Lake joined the Spooner crowd as a counter-protester, advocating for the Trump administration. He received some angry looks from others, but he was polite. He said that President Trump “is not a king, not a fascist and not a dictator” but was “operating under constitutional authority.”

Standing near Gronning were Jeff and Lydia Lewis of Minong, who offered a different perspective. “I am here because of the many outrageous (actions) Donald Trump has perpetrated on the American people. I am most angry about this war in Iran, particularly in light of his failure to support Ukraine,” said Lydia. Jeff said he had numerous reasons to be protesting and expressed a desire to see the full Epstein files.

With a sign hanging around her neck that said: “Fascism has arrived. Resist,” Jodi Harold of Sarona said she had participated in at least three other protests in the past and was out on Saturday because “this administration is doing everything wrong.”

In Siren, in a village of a few hundred, more than 200 people gathered for a protest along Hwys. 70 and 35.

Michael Summers held a cartoonish figure of Trump wearing a king’s crown being flushed down a toilet. Summers said he was inspired by so many people coming out in a small community.

A group of retired residents from Voyager Village joined the protest for a variety of reasons. “I’d like to get our democracy back,” said Susan. “I felt the need for some of us to show America that some of us want to preserve democracy,” said Patty.

Gary Thill of Webster was trying to engage passing drivers with a sign reading “Flip Me Off if You Voted for Pedophile.” He counted over 21 who gave him the finger. “I’m here today to voice my frustration with the administration and with all the corruption and with everything the current administration stands for,” said Thill.

— Frank Zufall

The Wisconsin State Senate passed a bill last week that will request funding for health care coverage for incarcerated people from the federal government. State Assembly lawmakers had already passed the bill last month. 

In a Facebook post last week, Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) celebrated the measure and said he hopes Gov. Tony Evers will sign it into law. 

James said that “as people leave our correctional system, they have a 40 TIMES higher risk of overdose death within the first TWO weeks after release.” This appeared to be a reference to a North Carolina study of opioid overdose death rates between 2000 and 2015. 

“This bill is a great step forward for Wisconsin as it ensures we become a healthier, safer community,” James said.  

The vote was nearly unanimous, with only Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) voting no. 

A federal “inmate exclusion policy” limits incarcerated people’s ability to use Medicaid, but the bill seeks to have the state apply for a waiver under an exception outlined by the federal government. 

Under the bill, the state’s Department of Health Services would submit a request to conduct a demonstration project to provide 90 days of prerelease coverage to incarcerated people for case management services, medication-assisted treatment for all types of substance use disorders and a 30-day supply of prescription medications. Incarcerated people would have to be otherwise eligible for coverage under the Medical Assistance program, which provides health services to people with limited financial resources.  

The advocacy organization WISDOM celebrated the Senate’s passage of the bill in an email newsletter signed by Mark Rice, the group’s transformational justice campaign coordinator. 

Rice said that full implementation of the bill would reduce needless suffering and the number of people being detained, benefit public safety, save resources and put more people on a path to successful reentry into society. 

In written testimony dated Oct. 31, director Dawn Buchholz of the Juneau County Department of Health Services said that passing the bill “will help us provide crucial services to inmates reentering our communities.”

“In the past, our agency literally completed hundreds of suicide and other behavioral health assessments for inmates experiencing emergency mental health and substance use crises in the Juneau County Jail,” Buchholz testified. “This was a frustrating process because while we can assess inmates, we cannot provide them with mental health or substance abuse treatment due to Medicaid rules.”

Buchholz testified that providing prerelease coverage to incarcerated people, along with a 30-day supply of prescription medications, “will help our agency work more effectively with our jails and prisons, result in a seamless reentry into community behavioral health services and decrease recidivism.”

DOC communications director Beth Hardtke referred the Examiner to the DOC fiscal estimate for information on what the agency is currently able to provide and the potential impact of the legislation. 

The department estimated it may have over $750,000 in potential cost savings if the waiver is approved and implemented, allowing the state to expand health care access for incarcerated people. 

The Examiner reported last month that in the fiscal estimate, the DOC said that in FY 2025, the agency spent $500,000 on the 30-day medication supply dispensed for incarcerated people before they were released, $300,000 on pre-release medication assisted treatment medications and $3.9 million on the Opening Avenues to Reentry Success (OARS) program. The OARS program supports the transition from prison to the community of incarcerated people living with a severe and persistent mental illness who are at medium-to-high risk of reoffending. 

Because not all incarcerated people will qualify, the estimate assumes that half of the medication and medication assisted treatment medications costs will be reimbursed, as well as 10% of the OARS program costs. There may be other costs DOC can have reimbursed. 

The Examiner previously reported that states have to reinvest federal matching funds received for carceral health care services currently funded with state or local dollars. Reinvested money must go toward activities that increase access or improve the quality of health care services for people who are incarcerated or were recently released, or for health-related social services that may help divert people released from incarceration from involvement in the criminal justice system. 

In the fiscal estimate, the DOC said that incarcerated people in local detention facilities may also be eligible for the services. This could result in local cost savings in addition to DOC cost savings. The department couldn’t estimate the potential local cost savings of the bill because not all local detention facilities provide the same type or level of services.  

Hardtke noted that the bill only allows the state to apply for the federal waiver, and it isn’t guaranteed that a waiver would be approved. 

As of Nov. 21, 19 states had approved waivers, according to the health policy research organization KFF. Nine, including the District of Columbia, had pending waivers. 

In an email to the Examiner in November, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the bill requires the three services that the waiver would need to include to be submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The bill doesn’t require other criteria for the project, aside from current Medicaid eligibility requirements. 

Beyond those requirements, the department said it needs the authority that the bill would provide before it starts work on putting together the details of the waiver. The bill requires the department to submit the request for a waiver by Jan. 1, 2027. 

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The Wisconsin State Senate did not vote on the “Justice for All Act” before it concluded regular work this week, likely punting the court staffing concerns addressed in the bill to the next legislative session. 

In an interview with the Wisconsin Examiner on Wednesday, Rep. David Steffen (R-Howard) said that this issue didn’t get enough attention in the latest state budget process. 

“We have criminals who will not be prosecuted, we have innocent individuals who will remain in jails and property taxpayers will be picking up a massive tab associated with this inaction,” said Steffen, one of the bill’s authors. 

Steffen said that the issue will have to be addressed in the next budget process, in 2027, though the work done and awareness raised on this issue will make those discussions easier. 

The “Justice for All Act,” or Assembly Bill 514, was introduced in October and passed the Assembly last month. It involves additional criminal justice system positions that would help address backlogs of court cases in Wisconsin. These include additional judges, assistant prosecutors and public defenders, court reporters and public defender support staff for the 2027-2029 and 2029-2031 bienniums. 

Steffen said he thinks that if the bill had gone before the Senate, it would have passed. However, it didn’t reach the needed threshold of support from Republicans, he said. That threshold of GOP support is also known as the  unwritten “rule of 17” which means obtaining the votes of 17 Republicans or an all-GOP majority to pass any bill through the Senate. (Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, who announced Thursday he is stepping down, drew criticism for allowing bills on sports betting and funding for the University of Wisconsin athletic department to come to the floor and pass on a bipartisan basis without garnering 17 Republican votes.)

Steffen said he’d heard that, as he understood it, some senators were concerned about handling this large of an expenditure outside of the budget process. However, Steffen called this “unfortunate, and likely more of a punt than a real reason.” He said exceptions are routinely made for important matters facing the state.

In an interview with the Examiner on Wednesday, Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) said that at some point, Milwaukee County “is going to have to file a lawsuit to recoup some of the money that they’re spending on our criminal justice system.”

“We’re forced to come to the state to beg for resources that they should be voluntarily giving us, and they have the nerve to tell us no,” Johnson said. 

Will the new positions be delayed?

The bill would provide authority for some of the new positions beginning in July 2027, while for others, it would be the summer of 2028 or 2029. 

A staff member from Steffen’s office told the Examiner that if the proposal is taken up next session, Steffen would not expect the timing of the positions related to the judges and court reporters to be affected. However, Steffen would anticipate that the other positions in the bill — positions related to assistant district attorneys, assistant public defenders and public defender support staff — would be pushed back by a year. 

Steffen expects the same timing would apply if the measure is introduced as a standalone bill, like the Justice for All Act, or through the state budget. 

Next time, how will Milwaukee fare?

An amendment to the Justice for All bill stripped additional public defender and public defender support staff positions for Milwaukee from the bill, the Examiner reported last month. The bill still held additional prosecutor positions for Milwaukee. 

“In order for me to get the support I needed in the Assembly, it was necessary for me to hold back those public defender positions in Milwaukee County,” Steffen said. 

Steffen said that next year, he hopes to include the public defender positions for Milwaukee that were in the original version of the bill he crafted. 

Sen. LaTonya Johnson said that the motivation to cut those Milwaukee positions out stemmed from a conflict involving the district attorney’s office, public defender’s office and Enough is Enough, a court watch group, the Examiner reported last month. Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) criticized the public defenders, who said the court watchdog group was operating as an extension of the district attorney’s office. 

Steffen said that some in the Assembly had concerns that were particularly about Milwaukee public defenders “displaying a lack of attention on the core responsibilities of defending the indigent versus some of their comments and actions against community watchdog groups who were in Milwaukee County.” Asked if this was about what the public defender’s office put out regarding Enough is Enough and that controversy, Steffen said that was correct. 

Steffen said some lawmakers took issue with what the defenders’ letter represented, that more time was being spent “worried about some retirees sitting there in the courtroom than they were focusing on defending the rights of the accused.” 

Steffen said he was very interested in working with the state public defender’s office to address the issue, but “we were unable to do so” before the end of the session. He said that the removal of the Milwaukee positions wasn’t a barrier to the bill going up for a vote on Tuesday. 

Johnson opposes the idea that the Milwaukee positions shouldn’t have been included due to the controversy involving public defenders and Enough is Enough and said it speaks of overreach. She also argued that if the public defenders were honest about how they felt in the letter, they did their job.

Johnson said she and her Milwaukee colleagues weren’t supportive of the Justice for All Act because of  the removal of the Milwaukee public defense positions.

Johnson said she spoke with one of the bill authors about why the bill wasn’t on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday. She said that he highly doubted “that Milwaukee would be a part of that process even next year, because if it was, then they would have people who would be unwilling to support it in the Senate.” Johnson hopes that when legislators return, Republicans will no longer hold the Senate majority.

In Milwaukee County, the backlog of unresolved felony-related matters is more than 10,000, as of Oct. 13, Wisconsin Watch reported.

“How do you remove public defender support and staff support from the largest county in the entire state?” Johnson said.

What was the conflict involving the court watch group?

Regional manager Angel Johnson and deputy regional manager Paige Styler of the public defenders’ office signed a letter sent to judges in Milwaukee County Circuit Court’s criminal division, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 

The letter alleged that Enough is Enough “functions more as an extension of the DA’s office” and that the group’s activities and formation have been closely coordinated with the DA’s office, the Journal Sentinel reported. It argued that “Enough is Enough” shouldn’t be seen as an independent, grassroots organization. 

Johnson and Styler asked judges to consider that context when evaluating impact statements or the presence of the group in court, the Journal Sentinel reported. The group’s president called the public defenders’ allegations “false, exaggerated and without merit.” 

The letter highlighted Assistant District Attorney Joy Hammond and retired Assistant District Attorney Thomas Potter, who public defenders said “reviewed, drafted, and edited letters for Enough is Enough addressed to the judiciary,” according to the Journal Sentinel. 

Public defenders claimed that emails obtained from a public records request outline extensive meetings between the DA’s office and Enough is Enough, the Journal Sentinel reported. In a memo to a judge, Lovern described the emails public defenders received as “mostly logistical in nature” and nothing “nefarious,” according to the Journal Sentinel. 

Public defenders call for more positions

The lack of a vote on the bill creates uncertainty for the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office, according to a spokesperson for the office.

“We’re still hopeful that we can obtain the resources we need in the next state budget, but without the Justice for All Act in place as a bipartisan consensus to build from, the path forward is significantly less clear,” the spokesperson told the Examiner in an email. 

In a press release on Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office argued that “lawmakers cut short a lifeline for Wisconsin’s overburdened public defense system” by not putting the bill on the calendar. 

“Our attorneys are drowning, and it’s Wisconsinites who pay the price when constitutional rights are treated as an optional expense,” State Public Defender Jennifer Bias said. 

The public defenders said that public defenders and Wisconsinites who rely on them will have to wait almost a year and a half for the next budget cycle to offer another chance at relief. 

The Justice for All Act would have given public defenders an additional 18 attorney positions and 35 support staff positions in the next budget biennium, the agency’s largest staffing increase since 2009, the public defenders said.

The public defenders argued that these resources would have allowed the agency to confront growing case delays brought on by prosecutors charging more crimes and by “an explosion of digital evidence in criminal cases.” 

In a press release in January, the public defender’s office said that criminal cases in Wisconsin have become increasingly complex over the past two decades — that cases once involving a few police reports now regularly involve hundreds of hours of body camera footage and thousands of pages of digital records. 

A lack of sufficient support staff forces public defenders to take on “vast amounts of extra work outside the courtroom,” the agency said in January, adding that in its Stevens Point region, 30 attorneys covering 13 counties share only one paralegal. 

According to Bias’s testimony in January, the lack of support staff positions is a consistent reason attorneys give for leaving the public defender’s office. While an attorney shortage makes it difficult to fill attorney roles quickly, the agency has very little trouble finding qualified support staff, she testified.

In testimony on the bill, Bias said the agency recently had a case in which police misidentified a suspect. The client had been sitting in jail for six months by the time the attorney was able to review the bodycam footage and see that the video didn’t show the client. She said the client was released but had already lost a job and housing.

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Former Waupun Correctional Institution officer Jamall Russell pled no contest to misdemeanor charges on Wednesday in a Dodge County Circuit Court case. The criminal complaint in the case charged Russell and others in the death of Donald Maier, the Examiner reported in June 2024. 

Maier, 62, was incarcerated at the Waupun prison and was reportedly found dead in February 2024. Authorities said Maier’s death was due to dehydration and malnutrition.

Russell, 41, was originally charged with misconduct in public office and with neglecting a person confined in a correctional institution, which are both Class I felonies that carry a penalty of imprisonment of up to three and a half years, a fine of up to $10,000 or both.

The criminal complaint charged Russell with neglect through a failure to act that caused unreasonable suffering, misery or physical harm. It also accused him of misconduct by reporting false information. 

The complaint stated that Maier had severe mental health issues and medical problems, and that multiple staff had noted he could not effectively communicate his needs. Maier’s inability to speak coherently to communicate his medical needs was likely a factor in why he didn’t receive needed medical and psychological intervention, the complaint said. 

According to camera footage, on four consecutive days, Russell “does not feed a meal (breakfast or lunch)” to Maier, according to the complaint, causing eight out of 12 meals to not be fed to Maier. During six of eight deliveries, he didn’t ask Maier if he would like to eat. 

Maier refused or wasn’t provided medication for his known medical and psychological conditions during his approximately nine days in the restricted housing unit, with the exception of one possible distribution where it’s unclear if he ingested the medication given to him, the complaint said. 

Russell said that an incarcerated person’s refusal of medication is when they don’t respond or say no when a medication pass is conducted, the complaint stated. In the case of Maier, Russell said that “he would either yell obscenities or ignore him completely, so he did not distribute medications to him.” 

Russell also said he wouldn’t give medications to an incarcerated person if  he couldn’t verify the person was taking them, because of the possibility that the person would hoard the medications and abuse them later. 

Russell said he had written incident reports involving self-harm or suicidal actions. He said that writing an incident report about an inmate losing weight and getting thinner or flooding his cell, which Maier reportedly did, was not in line with his training. Russell claimed that he told a nurse he was worried about Maier because he was not eating, not responding, his movements were getting slower and his skin appeared to be paler, the complaint stated. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said the water in Maier’s cell  “appears to have been shut off for a significant amount of time”; based on the criminal complaint, this appeared to be in response to Maier flooding his cell. 

Russell said he told a sergeant about unusual observations of Maier’s activities and reported his meal refusal to a sergeant and hospital unit staff. 

Schmidt said that the required number of cell checks was not conducted and supervisors knew cell checks were commonly skipped.   

Camera footage showed that 14 times over two days, Russell did not complete  rounds in the restrictive housing unit  that he reported he had completed, the complaint stated. 

A nurse was present during Maier’s intake into restricted housing and didn’t proceed with an evaluation because he was verbally abusive, according to the criminal complaint. Maier was placed in a cell and never again removed or seen in person, other than through a window, to determine if he needed medical attention.  

Correctional officer and sergeant vacancies at the Waupun prison have decreased after a peak of about 56% in February 2024, around the time of Donald Maier’s death. The latest rate reported online by the DOC is about 25%.

The Examiner reported in June 2024 on criminal charges against nine Waupun staff members, including Russell, with abuse of prisoners and misconduct, after the deaths of Maier and Cameron Williams, 24, who were both incarcerated at the prison. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Russell is no longer a correctional officer. 

Russell pleaded no contest to three counts of violating the law governing a state or county institution. This misdemeanor carries up to a $500 fine, up to 30 days of imprisonment or both. 

However, the plea agreement, signed by Russell and Dodge County District Attorney Andrea Will on Wednesday, would impose different requirements: probation, community service hours, honest testimony and the inability to work as a correctional officer.

Former Waupun warden Randall Hepp was convicted last year and fined $500 and court costs, the Examiner reported. He also pleaded no contest. Maier’s mother filed a lawsuit against Hepp, Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy and others, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. 

According to an article in the Appleton Post-Crescent last year on the conviction of a different Waupun staff member, Dodge County Assistant District Attorney Shawn Woller read a letter from Maier’s mother during the prosecution’s sentencing argument. He said she requested for the letter to be read at each of the sentencings for those convicted of crimes relating to her son’s death. 

“I feel that each and every person who ignored my son and therefore had a hand in his death should spend some time in jail so that they learn firsthand what it is like to be dependent on other guards for food and water and medical care and protection,” her letter states, according to the Post-Crescent. “Nothing can bring my son back, but I’d like to think that we as a society would at least learn something from this tragedy, so this never happens to anyone else’s son.”

Plea agreement does not include jail time

The plea agreement states that in exchange for truthful testimony in any trial surrounding the death of Donald Maier, the state will recommend a withheld sentence on each count for two years of probation.

This comes with the condition that Russell can’t be employed as a correctional officer, as well as 100 hours of community service and following “all other conditions deemed appropriate by the agent.” Russell would also be responsible for all applicable court costs and fees. 

If the state believes that Russell does not provide truthful testimony or refuses to testify, the state will be free to argue at sentencing for whatever sentence it prefers, the agreement states. 

The plea offer depends upon truthful testimony against any co-actors who go to trial. 

Next in Russell’s case is a May 11 scheduling conference, to pick a date for his sentencing. 

Where do the other prosecutions stand?

In June 2024, charges were brought against Hepp and eight members of his staff: Russell, Lt. Brandon Fisher, Sgt. Alexander Hollfelder, nurse Jessica Hosfelt, correctional officer Sarah Ransbottom, Sgt. Jeramie Chalker, nurse Gwendolyn Vick and Sgt. Tanner Leopold. 

Ransbotton, Hepp, Fisher and Russell each pleaded no contest to one or more charges of violating the law governing a state or county institution after each originally was charged with one or more felonies. 

In the time leading up to Maier’s death, Ransbottom reported in the log that she completed rounds that surveillance footage showed she did not complete, according to a criminal complaint. 

Fisher pled no contest to two counts of violating the law governing a state or county institution, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He has a sentencing hearing scheduled for May 29. The complaint said Fisher did not act on information he received to further investigate Maier’s condition or well-being.

In an incident report, Fisher wrote that the night before Williams’ death was reported, Leopold said he could see Williams breathing and slight movement of his head, but could not get a verbal response from him, the complaint said. 

Leopold reported that he told Fisher about the situation and was told that he had to contact the health services unit, so that they could determine whether it was necessary to assemble a team to remove Williams from his cell. 

According to the complaint, Fisher told detectives that “because (Williams) had a history of faking things, (Fisher) advised that a nurse should be contacted to visually look at him and see if there was a medical reason to pull him out of the cell, but if they don’t have a reason, he didn’t want to play games with (Williams) because he was attention seeking.”

Nurse Megan Leberak came to Williams’ cell front and noted that he was breathing but would not respond. Leberak indicated that usually, when a cell entry is done, she would be called to come over after staff entered the cell, if there was a medical issue, the complaint said. 

Leberak said she gave the go ahead for a cell entry to be conducted, but video footage showed Leopold, Fisher and nurse Gwendolyn Vick didn’t check on Williams, the complaint said. Leberak was at the end of her shift, and reportedly gave an update to Vick, who was later criminally charged.

Leopold said he received a call from Vick, telling him that entry wasn’t necessary at that time and that they would wait, according to the complaint. 

The case against Chalker was dismissed on a motion from the prosecution. Camera footage did not show Chalker completing 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. rounds on one day, contrary to what Chalker had logged, according to the criminal complaint. The Journal Sentinel reported that prosecutors said the investigation determined Chalker’s superior officer had instructed Chalker to fill out the rounds sheets.

The case against Hollfelder was also dismissed on a motion from the prosecution. The Journal Sentinel reported that they determined Hollfelder properly communicated concerns to his supervisor and a member of the health services unit, and had limited contact with Maier because of time he spent off work on family and medical leave. 

Cases against Leopold, Vick and Hosfelt are still active. Each is charged with neglecting someone confined in a correctional institution, which is a felony. Vick has a trial scheduled for May, while Hosfelt has a scheduling conference on March 27 and Leopold has a scheduling conference on March 23.

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The Milwaukee Police Department has explicitly banned officers from using masks or other facial coverings to hide their identities, Milwaukee Common Council members announced on Monday. 

“We met with the police chief, delivered the message of what our constituents were demanding, and he acted. This is about responsiveness, accountability and trust,” Alderperson JoCasta Zamarripa said in a statement that quoted four members of the council, including council president José Pérez.

The statement said the new policy is aligned with the council’s “ICE Out” public safety plan. 

Last month, officials announced a package of local ordinance proposals that aim to prepare the city for a possible surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The package included a requirement for all ICE agents to be unmasked when interacting with the public in Milwaukee. 

City ordinances could be struck down in court, but people in Milwaukee want to see their local government try to protect against abuses by the federal government, Milwaukee Ald. Alex Brower said.

The department updated the uniform requirements in its standard operating procedure, effective Monday. 

The Milwaukee Police Department procedure states that facial coverings and masks are allowed in certain circumstances. These include but are not limited to the following: protection to prevent exposure to hazardous materials, protection on assignments to prevent the spread of diseases or viruses and protection from cold or extreme weather during assignments that require a staff member to be outdoors for periods of time. 

“Note: Facial coverings and masks shall not be used for the purpose of concealing identity,” the procedure states. 

In a statement to the Examiner, the police department expressed gratitude to elected officials, the Milwaukee Police Association and the Milwaukee Police Supervisors Organization, who worked in collaboration to make the modification to the operating procedure, the unsigned statement said, adding, “We are always better together.”

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On Friday, lawmakers in the Wisconsin Assembly voted in favor of a bill seeking Medicaid coverage for people in Wisconsin prisons and jails. Supporters hope it will help recently incarcerated people avoid addiction and overdoses. 

Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) said her experience working for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has given her firsthand knowledge about the impact AB 604 will have. She said it will improve access to treatment and case management and ease the financial burden on justice-involved Wisconsinites. 

The bill would give incarcerated people a greater chance of maintaining sobriety and preventing overdose after release from prison, Stubbs said. After a Minnesota study about the causes of death of recently incarcerated people, researcher Tyler Winkelman said that “substance use is clearly the main driver of death after release from both jail and prison.”

Medicaid is prohibited from paying for services provided during incarceration, barring some exceptions involving inpatient services or an eligible juvenile under 21 years old. The National Association of Counties published a toolkit critical of the “inmate exclusion policy,” arguing in part that it unfairly revokes federal health benefits from people who are being detained prior to trial and have not been found guilty.  

The bill would pursue a path offered by the federal government that allows for a partial waiver of the policy. 

The proposal directs the Department of Health Services to request a waiver to conduct a demonstration project; 19 states have approved waivers and nine states including Washington D.C. have pending waivers, as of November 21. 

A waiver would allow for prerelease health care coverage under the Medical Assistance program, which provides health services to people with limited finances, for up to 90 days before release of an eligible incarcerated person. Coverage would be provided for case management services, medication-assisted treatment for all types of substance use disorders and a 30-day supply of prescription medications. 

The bill garnered support from lawmakers from both parties and from WISDOM and EX-Incarcerated People Organizing, groups that advocate for incarcerated people. 

The Assembly’s vote to seek the coverage for incarcerated people comes on the heels of its vote to accept a federal expansion of Medicaid coverage for women for one year after they give birth. 

For the waiver, if the state seeks federal Medicaid coverage for services that are currently funded with state or local dollars, the state has to reinvest any savings in state or local funds. Savings would be invested in programs to increase access to or improve the quality of health care for incarcerated people. 

In the Department of Corrections fiscal estimate, the DOC said that in fiscal year 2025, the agency spent $500,000 on the 30-day medication supply dispensed for incarcerated people pre-release, $300,000 on pre-release medication assisted treatment medications and $3.9 million on the Opening Avenues to Reentry Success (OARS) program. The OARS program supports the transition from prison to the community of incarcerated people living with a severe and persistent mental illness who are at medium-to-high risk of reoffending. 

The agency estimated it may have over $750,000 in potential cost savings if the waiver is approved and implemented. 

Because not all incarcerated people will qualify, the estimate assumes that half of the medication supply and medication assisted treatment medications costs will be reimbursed, as well as 10% of the OARS program costs. There may be other costs DOC can have reimbursed.

AB 604 would require the Department of Health Services to submit the waiver request no later than Jan. 1, 2027. 

The bill now goes to the state Senate. Supporters of the bill include the Wisconsin Medical Society, the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Counties Association. 

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In the Wisconsin prison system, incarcerated mothers still lack a program that would allow physical custody of their children, a year after a court ruling affirmed that a state law requires the Department of Corrections to take steps to bring together incarcerated moms and babies. The ACLU is suing to try to force the issue.

Wisconsin statute 301.049 calls for a “mother-young child care program” allowing women to retain the physical custody of their children during participation in the program. It says a woman entering the program must either be pregnant or have a child less than a year old. 

Alyssa Puphal and Natasha Curtin-Weber are plaintiffs in the case against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC), and are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and Quarles & Brady LLP. 

While a judge sided with the plaintiffs last year, they are attempting to re-open the case, saying the DOC has not implemented the program required by law. 

“At this moment, each and every woman in DOC’s physical custody with a baby under one year old sleeps apart from her child every single night,” the Feb. 4 filing stated. 

Nine states have prison nursery programs, and a few others are considering or developing a program, Stateline reported in January. 

According to Wisconsin Public Radio, DOC communications director Beth Hardtke wrote in an email that because the Legislature turned down a budget request from Gov. Tony Evers to expand earned release to allow mothers to spend more time with their children outside of prison, the department is now being required to expand the mother-child program to include incarcerated mothers despite a lack of additional funding and of statutory changes that would allow more incarcerated women to take part.

DOC had previously argued that it was meeting the requirements of the 1991 statute by facilitating contact between babies and mothers on probation, extended supervision and parole. But a year ago, in February 2025, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Elkhe disagreed, ordering DOC to provide a mother-child program inside Wisconsin prisons.

“Reforming the criminal justice system to make our communities safer is a key priority of (Gov. Tony Evers’) administration and that includes corrections reforms such as a mother-young child program for incarcerated women,” Hardtke wrote, according to WPR. 

The ACLU motion called for remedial sanctions to get the agency to comply with the court order, including a daily fine for each day the contempt of court continues. The organization asked that the money from the fines be set aside to support the mother-child program, and claimed that a growing fine would ensure resources for the program. 

“With each month that passes, Defendants’ failure to act violates state law and violates the Writ,” the motion stated. 

When the lawsuit was filed in June 2024, Puphal had already given birth while incarcerated, while Curtin-Weber was pregnant. As of the filing of the lawsuit, their requests to participate in the mother-young program were refused or had not been responded to, according to a complaint published online by the ACLU. 

Puphal and Curtin-Weber were released on extended supervision last year, according to online DOC records. 

The state law enacted in 1991 states that the department shall provide the program for females who are prisoners or on probation, extended supervision or parole and who would participate as an alternative to revocation. 

When a person is released from prison to supervision, they must follow certain rules. If their supervision is revoked, the person will either be returned to court for sentencing or transported to a correctional institution. 

The department contended that it was in line with the law and that the word “or” in the statute indicated the agency could either provide the program for incarcerated mothers or for mothers on supervision.

DOC argued that it had a mother-child program for women on probation, extended supervision or parole who are pregnant or have a child under the age of one, and that it didn’t have to offer the program to incarcerated mothers. Wisconsin’s state budget includes $198,000 for a mother-young child program. 

Ehlke sided with the plaintiffs. He said they had established a clear right to be included in the class of people the department must consider for the mother-child program. 

The ACLU motion on Feb. 4 stated that the court had ordered the department to establish the program “forthwith,” or without delay, and  moved to reopen the case, arguing there has been “no meaningful progress” since that order despite three meetings between department representatives and counsel for the plaintiffs. 

“To avoid another year of excuses — or worse, another 35 years — Plaintiffs ask the Court to reopen this case for the purposes of enforcing the Court’s Writ,” the motion stated. 

The plaintiffs’ filing includes a letter and a list of questions sent to the Department of Corrections in December. It states that the Ostara Initiative offered to create a mother-young child care program for DOC at no cost to the agency in April 2024 and has continued to approach the agency. It described the Ostara Initiative as “a credible non-profit that DOC has already partnered with for other services.” 

The Examiner reached out to the Department of Corrections for a response to the plaintiffs’ filing, and also asked if the claims about Ostara were correct and if the department is planning to partner with Ostara on the program. Hardtke wrote that it is the department’s practice not to comment on ongoing litigation. 

A telephone scheduling conference in the case is scheduled for March 2. 

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