A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge has ruled that the Social Development Commission’s property corporation defaulted on mortgage payments for its North Avenue buildings and faces foreclosure in the coming months.
This judgment, which was issued Monday, Oct. 6, is the latest development for the Social Development Commission as the anti-poverty agency attempts to reconcile its budget and secure funding amid lawsuits, board tensions and government reviews.
The properties will now enter a redemption period for three months before the court can take further action, including selling the properties at auction.
“I can tell you that (SDC) is working tirelessly to be able to secure and redeem the properties,”said Evan P. Schmit,an attorney with Kerkman & Dunn representing SDC and SD Properties.
Millions owed
Forward Community Investments, a community development financial institution, filed a foreclosure lawsuit in March against SD Properties Inc., the tax-exempt corporation that owns SDC’s buildings. The lawsuit claimed SD Properties defaulted on mortgage payments in 2024 and lists SDC as a guarantor.
On Monday, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge J.D. Watts granted a summary judgment for Forward Community Investments, which included a judgment of foreclosure against SD Properties and SDC and declared that Forward Community Investments is entitled to a money judgment.
This judgment allows the foreclosure process to advance, according to Ryan Zerwer, the president and CEO of Forward Community Investments.
The total judgment amount owed by SD Properties was just over $3.1 million, as of June 16, according to court records.
The lender’s complaint outlines that this includes $2.42 million in principal, interest and other costs for a construction mortgage SD Properties entered into in 2020 and $687,000 for an additional mortgage started in 2023.
Additional accrued interest and other costs may be added to the tally before the properties are redeemed or sold.
SDC moves out
The warehouse located at 1810 W. North Ave. is one of the Social Development Commission’s buildings facing a judgment of foreclosure. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
SDC voluntarily vacated the 1730 W. North Ave. office and removed personal property, said Laura Callan, an attorney with Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, which is representing Forward Community Investments. William Sulton, SDC’s attorney, confirmed the agency moved out of both the office and the warehouse building at 1810 W.North Ave.
SD Properties still owns a property on Teutonia Avenue that is not included in the lawsuit.
Watts said that both parties have been cooperative.
“This is, of course, a major event in the community, so I’m aware of the importance of this case,” Watts said.
What’s next?
Wisconsin foreclosure laws require a redemption period, which will be for three months in this case.
During this period, SD Properties has the chance to redeem themortgaged premises by paying the total amount of the judgment and other attorney fees, costs and interest.
“The board is gonna have to decide whether they want to try and redeem the building or not,” Sulton said.
SDC is awaiting responses from the federal government on its status as a community action agency and Wisconsin departments on their audits. This is preventing the board from making decisions on the agency’s future direction and services, Sulton said.
If the properties are not redeemed after three months, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office will arrange a public auction or sale.
Schmit said a hearing to confirm the sale will be held after the redemption period, which would be the final opportunity for SD Properties to maintain the buildings.
“We will wait for the procedure for the confirmation of the sheriff’s sale, just to be clear,” Watts said.
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
A Ioniq 5 N driver claims his EV’s been immobile for more than two months.
The owner says Hyundai and his dealer have given no update or resolution.
The company has not yet responded to Carscoops’ request for a comment.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a game-changer. It proved all on its own that electric cars can deliver genuine driving enjoyment, not just straight-line speed. No doubt, that’s partially what convinced one Texas buyer to snap up one of the very first examples available in the state.
The excitement behind the purchase has soured, though, because at the 8,000-mile mark, the Ioniq 5 N allegedly failed. Now, it’s reportedly been sitting at a dealership for two months straight with no end in sight.
The public saga began on August 27 when the owner, William, posted about his situation on Reddit. In a thread with the title “Help me navigate the run around I think I am getting from service,” he details how one day his car displayed a red warning light and refused to charge.
At that point, the car had already been in service for weeks “with no clear answers,” he says. Notably, the service advisor reportedly told him the issue wasn’t the ICCU, or Integrated Charging Control Unit, the system that controls charging and power flow in the car and has been a known weak spot on some Ioniq 5 models.
Shared Frustrations
Other Reddit users claiming to own Ioniq 5 N or Elantra N models described similar frustrations with the same dealer in San Bruno, California. One said their car was misdiagnosed before ultimately receiving a new ICCU after 45 days.
“They are an absolute mess over there,” another commenter added about the same Northern California dealership. A week ago, William posted another update.
“After 2 months, I still don’t have my car and no end in sight. Good luck to folks out there waiting on a battery”, he wrote. In a screenshot from the dealership, a service advisor reportedly confirmed that the vehicle’s main battery was “on backorder” with “no ETA.”
Communication Breakdown
William went on to tell Carscoops that Hyundai’s lack of transparency has been the most frustrating part of the process. “Even giving Hyundai the full benefit of the doubt on supply-chain issues, the lack of transparency is inexcusable,” he said. “Every week it’s the same line – no ETA on a battery and no ETA on my car.”
The owner, who has already initiated a buyback request, says that process has also stalled: “Four weeks in, and no progress.” Carscoops has reached out to Hyundai for comment regarding the reported battery issue and ongoing parts delays.
The automaker confirmed that it is looking into the issue as of this writing, but hasn’t provided any additional insight at this point. We’ll update you here if we hear back.
Although President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” offers new tax deductions and credits across different income levels, low-income households – the bottom 20% of income earners – are largely excluded from any significant tax benefits.
“It’s particularly shocking because the law is so big,” said Elaine Maag, a senior fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “Typically, when trillions of dollars are spent, you see it really spread across the income distribution.”
The bill was signed into law over the summer.
Benefits that people with low incomes do receive may be outweighed when considered alongside other provisions in the bill, said Andrew Reschovsky, professor emeritus of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“This is the dilemma – if you count those things in with the tax side, the net will be that a lot of people are going to be worse off.”
Credits and deductions
A credit is an amount subtracted directly from the tax you owe while a deduction reduces the amount of income that can be taxed. Both can help keep more money in taxpayers’ pockets.
The bill establishes new credits and deductions.
The bill increases the:
Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per qualifying child to $2,200.
Child and Dependent Care Credit, which allows taxpayers to subtract certain costs associated with caring for children under 13 or dependents incapable of self-care.
The bill introduces new deductions for:
Workers in jobs where tips are common, allowing them to deduct up to $25,000 of tip income.
Individuals who work overtime, allowing them to deduct up to $12,500 of overtime pay.
People 65 and older, allowing them to deduct $6,000.
Limitations
These changes may appear to help people who are financially struggling. But the bill affects federal taxes, so its new deductions and credits apply only to income taxable by the federal government.
People with low income generally owe little or no federal income tax.
Older low-income adults, for example, often rely primarily or entirely on Social Security benefits and are generally not subject to federal taxes. This means that a new $6,000 deduction would not benefit them, Rechovsky said.
Rechovsky noted other reasons the new deductions are misleading or extremely narrow.
“Yes, you’re a waiter and you benefit from not paying taxes on your tips,” he said. “But take someone in the same income range who works as a home health care worker – they don’t benefit at all.”
Reschovsky also questions how those with low incomes would benefit from reducing the amount owed on overtime pay.
“One of the reasons some people are low-income is that they’re lucky to get a 40-hour workweek,” he said.
The same limitation applies to the new credits.
An analysis by Maag estimates that in 2025 about 17 million children under 17 – or one in four – will receive less than the full value of the Child Tax Credit because their parents earn too little.
The bill also changes which families qualify based on citizenship status.
The Child Tax Credit will be limited to children who are U.S. citizens and have at least one parent with a valid Social Security number.
About 2 million U.S. citizen children will lose their Child Tax Credit because of this new requirement, Maag wrote, citing an analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Safety nets
One benefit to people with low incomes from the bill is that it makes permanent many provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including lower income tax rates and larger standard deductions.
“It’s true across the board that if taxes go down, your income after taxes goes up,” Reschovsky said.
But for those with low incomes, the increase is minimal and will likely be outweighed by changes to Medicaid, premium subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act and changes to SNAP.
“It’s just that classic view … that, ‘Well, these people are just sucking on the teat of the federal government, so we’re going to just make it as hard as possible for them to do that, because they’re just freeloaders,’” said Anthony Myers, program director of the Riverworks Financial Clinic.
Where to get help
For people with incomes under $67,000, free tax assistance is available through programs such as the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA.
On Wednesday, a family in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the video game giant Roblox, alleging that it failed to protect their child from abuse. A researcher focusing on adolescent internet use gives advice for parents on how to navigate platforms like these.
Rallygoers hold a sign that reads “Free Kilmar” during a rally Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland seemed inclined to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention after oral arguments in court Friday, a potentially major development in the high-profile case.
After a more than six-hour hearing, District Judge Paula Xinis said a witness provided by the Justice Department showed little evidence that the Trump administration made an effort to remove Abrego Garcia to the southern African nation of Eswatini, and knew nothing about Abrego Garcia agreeing to be removed to Costa Rica.
The witness tapped by the Department of Justice was John Schultz, a deputy assistant director who oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal operations.
After hearing from him, Xinis said keeping Abrego Garcia detained indefinitely would likely be unconstitutional. She said she would issue an order soon.
Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant whose wrongful deportation from Maryland put a spotlight on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, is currently detained in Pennsylvania.
His attorneys have argued the Trump administration is using detention to punish Abrego Garcia because officials are not trying to remove him, even after Abrego Garcia agreed to be deported to Costa Rica.
‘Three strikes, you’re out’
Xinis expressed her frustration with Department of Justice attorneys for not providing a witness who would give clear answers on how immigration officials were handling the removal of Abrego Garcia.
“We’re getting to the three strikes, you’re out,” Xinis said.
Andrew J. Rossman, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, argued that if Immigration and Customs Enforcement is making no plans to immediately remove him, he should be released from detention.
He also argued that since March, when the Trump administration erroneously deported Abrego Garcia to a mega-prison in El Salvador, to the present, Abrego Garcia has been “in continuous containment” way past the six-month limit set by the Supreme Court regarding the detention of immigrants.
“The real aim of the government… is punitive, which is just to keep him incarcerated,” Rossman said. “It’s an overtly political purpose.”
The Rev. Robert Turner, right, leads an opening prayer on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had a hearing in court. Standing next to Turner is Ama Frimpong, an attorney with the immigrant advocacy group CASA. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
Rossman told Xinis that he has not received an answer from the federal government as to why they will not remove Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica, after he agreed to that proposal in August.
Xinis asked DOJ attorney Drew Ensign why Abrego Garcia hasn’t been removed to Costa Rica.
Ensign said that it was not clear to the government until Friday that Abrego Garcia had agreed to be removed to Costa Rica, because Abrego Garcia had previously expressed fear of being sent there.
Abrego Garcia changed his position after Costa Rica assured him he would be given refugee status.
“That is a new development that I will report back to people,” Ensign said.
Supreme Court ruling
A 2001 Supreme Court ruling does not allow for immigrants to be detained longer than six months if the federal government is making no efforts to remove them.
After 90 days without efforts to deport an immigrant, a challenge can be made because detaining that person any longer than a maximum of 180 days, or six months, would likely be unconstitutional, the high court found in Zadvydas v. Davis.
Earlier this week, Xinis seemed likely to order Abrego Garcia’s release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, where he has remained since late August.
Xinis, who also ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garica to the United States after she found his removal to El Salvador unlawful, is overseeing his habeas corpus petition, which challenges his detention.
Protesters rally outside the courthouse
Ahead of the hearing, dozens of supporters from the immigrant advocacy group CASA gathered in front of the District Court for the District of Maryland, chanting, “Somos todos Kilmar,” or, “We are all Kilmar.”
Rallygoers also chanted “What do we want? Justice!” “When do we want it? Now!”
Some also held signs urging the Trump administration to free Abrego Garcia.
Maryland Del. Nicole Williams, right, speaks in support of the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a rally Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Next to Williams is Maryland Del. Bernice Mireku-North. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
Two Maryland state legislators, Dels. Nicole Williams and Bernice Mireku-North, both Democrats, joined the rally.
Williams sponsored legislation during this year’s General Assembly session to prohibit local police from entering into certain agreements with ICE. On the last day of the legislative session in April, lawmakers passed a watered-down version of a bill that does not include the ban, the biggest loss for Maryland immigration advocates this year.
“We are going to be working on legislation with regards to masking by law enforcement officers,” Williams said. “We need to start treating everyone, I don’t care where you’re from, in a humane and decent way. And that’s what we’re going to be fighting for every single day until Kilmar is free and Kilmar comes home. So stop using Kilmar for your own political gain. Bring Kilmar home.”
White House involvement
Schultz, the DOJ witness, revealed that the White House had direct involvement in picking Uganda as a potential third country of removal for ICE’s deportation of Abrego Garcia.
The move was unusual because the State Department typically coordinates third-country removals for the Department of Homeland Security.
Schultz said the Homeland Security Council, which operates within the White House, notified ICE of Uganda as a third country of removal. The Homeland Security Council works with the National Security Council of the White House.
While Uganda is no longer a third country of removal for Abrego Garcia, ICE is trying to now remove him to Eswatini.
Schultz said Eswatini has not agreed to take Abrego Garcia, but discussions, which he said started on Wednesday, are underway.
“The discussions are continuing,” Schultz said.
Schultz said he is not aware if ICE has not made any efforts to determine if Abrego Garcia would face persecution or be tortured or confined in Eswatini, or be removed a second time to El Salvador.
Eswatini has previously agreed to accept third-country removals from the U.S. and the two countries have a memorandum of understanding, he added.
Ghana another potential destination
Schultz said that ICE has also identified the west African country of Ghana as a potential nation for Abrego Garica’s removal. Schultz said once a third country has agreed to accept Abrego Garica, he could be removed by ICE within 72 hours.
However, Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, wrote on social media that the country will not accept Abrego Garcia.
“This has been directly and unambiguously conveyed to US authorities,” he wrote. “In my interactions with US officials, I made clear that our understanding to accept a limited number of non-criminal West Africans, purely on the grounds of African solidarity and humanitarian principles would not be expanded.”
Schultz said that ICE “prematurely” sent a notice of removal to Abrego Garcia with Ghana as the designation.
The Costa Rica alternative
One of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, Sascha Rand, grilled Schultz about why DHS would not remove him to Costa Rica, despite Abrego Garcia agreeing to go.
Schultz said he was unaware of the letter from Costa Rica’s government saying it would accept Abrego Garcia.
Another attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said that the Trump administration offered to remove Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica in August if he were to plead guilty to criminal charges in a federal case in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in his criminal case in Nashville said in court filings that the Trump administration is trying to get him to plead guilty to human smuggling charges by promising to remove him to Costa Rica if he does so, and threatening to deport him to Uganda if he refuses.
Rand asked Schultz if anyone from DHS was in contact with Costa Rica.
Schultz said he was unaware if there were conversations between the federal government and Costa Rica about removing him there.
Rossman said based on Schultz’s testimony, it was clear the Trump administration was “holding hostage passage to Costa Rica.”
“They aren’t presently intending to remove him,” he said. “They have spun the globe and picked various (African) countries… to fail on purpose.”
William J. Ford of Maryland Matters contributed to this report.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, opened for new and returning college and university students on Oct. 1. Students typically have until June 1 to apply for the best chance of receiving aid.
The form connects students with loans, grants and scholarships through the U.S. Department of Education and your higher education institution.
Students considering attending a two- or four-year college or university should fill out the FAFSA form, even if they haven’t committed to a school or are unsure whether they will pursue higher education.
Getting started
Carole Trone serves on the board for College Goal Wisconsin, an organization that hosts FAFSA completion events around the state. She said the FAFSA process usually runs smoother when parents let their student take the lead.
“It works best if the student starts their part of the application and then hands it over to the parent,” Trone said.
Students should first make an account, called a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. If a student is a dependent, at least one parent or guardian will need to make a Federal Student Aid ID and contribute to the form.
The Department of Education requires students to provide a Social Security number to fill out the FAFSA form. Contributing parents without a Social Security number can make an account but will need to check a box certifying they don’t have a Social Security number.
When creating a Federal Student Aid ID, Trone said, it’s important to double check that all information, including names and dates of birth, are correct. The Department of Education won’t be able to verify your information if these details are incorrect, which Trone said complicates the process.
If students or parents already have a Federal Student Aid ID, Trone said the ID stays with them forever and they should use the same account.
Filling out FAFSA
What do I need to fill out the form
Students considering attending a two- or four-year college or university should fill out the FAFSA form, even if they haven’t committed to a school or are unsure whether they will pursue higher education. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
FAFSA requires certain information from students and parents to verify income, assets and financial need.
The Department of Education will use applicants’ Social Security numbers to access their income with the Internal Revenue Service. Parents and students must give consent for the IRS to access information on their tax returns, even if an applicant doesn’t have tax returns to supply.
The Department of Education recommends still having the most recent tax returns for information that isn’t imported from the IRS.
Students will also need to provide a list of schools they’re interested in attending. Students should list all schools even if they aren’t committed.
“The options that FASFA gives you is not just for four-year college, it’s for two-year college, it’s for a number of certification programs,” Trone said. “It doesn’t obligate you to anything.”
Types of aid
The types of federal aid you receive can be split into two main groups: loans and grants. The biggest difference is you need to pay back loans but not grants. Filling out your FAFSA form also helps you become eligible for need-based scholarships through your higher education institution.
Loans
You can make payments while enrolled at least part time (six credit hours, usually about two classes) in school but are not required to until after you graduate or go below six credit hours. After you do either of these, it triggers a six-month grace period before you’re required to make payments.
The federal government offers several types of loans in two categories: Direct and Direct PLUS.
The amount of interest on these loans depends on the year you take them out. The interest rate changes each year on July 1.
Direct loans
Students can receive two kinds of Direct loans: subsidized and unsubsidized.
Subsidized loans mean no interest accumulates on the loan while in school or during your grace period, saving the student money in the long run.
Unsubsidized loans accumulate interest beginning when the student takes out the loan.
Direct PLUS
The Department of Education also offers Direct PLUS loans, which are federal loans that parents of dependent undergraduate students, graduate or professional students can use to help pay for school.
Parents of dependent students can take a Parent PLUS loan to support additional education costs that aren’t covered by other financial aid.
This loan originally did not have a cap, but as a result of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Parent PLUS loans are now capped at $20,000 per year or $65,000 over the course of an undergraduate school career.
Graduate PLUS loans, which were used to support graduate school education, will be eliminated starting in the 2026-27 school year.
A new unsubsidized loan program is replacing Graduate PLUS. Students can borrow up to $20,500 annually, up to $100,000 over the course of graduate school. Students attending professional schools like medicine or law will be eligible to take out higher loans.
Grants
Pell grants: Students in need of a lot of financial aid might qualify for a Pell grant. Unlike loans, these do not have to be repaid.
The amount of aid you receive depends on your financial need.
After a person submits a FAFSA form, the Department of Education considers several factors like income and other assets and generates a Student Aid Index that determines your financial need. The lower your Student Aid Index, the greater chance of receiving more aid.
Colleges and universities look at factors like a student’s Student Aid Index, how many credits are being taken and tuition costs to decide how much aid a student will receive.
Private loans?
Universities and advocates alike caution against using private loans whenever possible because of concerns about predatory lending, potentially high interest rates and a lack of repayment options and forgiveness.
Interest rates and other conditions of the loan often vary on factors like credit scores. If you need to take out a private loan, try to look at offers from several lenders to pick the best one.
Where can I go for help?
College Goal Wisconsin is hosting events virtually and in several Milwaukee high schools to help students and parents complete the FAFSA form. Any students looking for help with a FAFSA form can attend, even if they don’t attend MPS.
Trone said each student who attends is eligible to win one of 15 $1,000 scholarships.
Families who can’t make it to a help session can use resources on the College Goal Wisconsin website or the FAFSA YouTube page, Trone said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
By a party-line vote Thursday, Milwaukee prosecutor Rebecca Taibleson was approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to be the next judge for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals — a high-profile federal position reserved for a Wisconsin jurist.
A 2018 Porsche 911 burned in rural Paraná, Brazil, over the weekend.
Police say security footage shows the owner setting it on fire himself.
The car had outstanding tax debts, and the case is under investigation.
Imagine the feeling of getting a call from the police that they’ve found your stolen Porsche 911, but that it’s been burned to the ground. No doubt, that would be rough for anyone, but for one man in Brazil, the call got even worse, because police think he’s the one who did it – and it seems like the video evidence they possess is pretty convincing.
The incident happened in Lapa, a rural town in the Curitiba metro region of Brazil. According to local outlet G1.globo, the owner told the police that he was the subject of an ambush.
Armed individuals in a truck stole his car with him in it, drove it down a deserted road, and then set it on fire. In fact, he went to the hospital for burns, which initially seemed like clear evidence of his credibility.
Caught on Camera
State Highway Police didn’t just take the man at his word, though. It turns out that of all the rural roads in the area, the place where the Porsche burned down, just happens to have a security camera nearby.
Police say that the man who walks up to the car and sets it on fire bears a striking resemblance to the owner. The clothes even matched, and police think they know what the motive was, too.
Evidently, the 911 in question, reportedly worth around R$700,000 (roughly $120,000 USD) was subject to expensive unpaid tax debts. The Civil Police in the area confirm that the situation is under investigation of being a false crime report. That said, they haven’t released the name of the owner, nor have they made any arrests.
A Fiery Mistake
Video from the scene doesn’t show any kidnappers, a truck, or anyone other than the man who allegedly sets the car on fire. Whoever it is seems to stop and take a moment to consider what they’re about to do before lighting some sort of accelerant in the Porsche. The fire is so violent at first that the man in question recoils as it grazes him.
It’s unclear where the case will go from here, but hopefully justice will be served. If this owner did indeed set his very special car on fire in front of the only camera within miles, it feels like karmic justice.
Jerome Dillard, executive director of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) (left) holds book discussion with author and activist Bianca Tylek (right). (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
“We’re talking about a major, major industry in our society today,” activist and writer Bianca Tylek told a group of about 20 people who packed a room at Madison’s Lake City Books Monday night. At the Q&A and book signing event, hosted by Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), Tylek — described as a leading expert in the prison industry — discussed her new book The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits, offering her insights into what she called a $80-90 billion industry in America.
“This is just a massive industry of folks who are using the correctional system to essentially extract either wealth or resources either from public coffers, or from low-income … communities that are directly impacted by incarceration,” said Tylek, who also founded and leads the non-profit organization Worth Rises, which works to confront and reform the prison industry. Tylek’s book delves into multiple aspects of the prison industry from food distribution to telecommunications and examines privatization, who profits and the lives of the people who are directly affected.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation.
The discussion was moderated by Jerome Dillard, EXPO’s executive director, who sat beside Tylek asking questions. Dillard called Tylek “my daughter in the movement,” and spoke of his admiration for her work and her spirit in fighting for change within the prison system.
Dillard described attending an event in Appleton last week with Tylek where he was invited to receive an award, “not knowing what we were going into,” and realizing it was a Wisconsin Correctional Association conference.
“I just couldn’t believe all the industries that were there with tables, and tabling the event with new devices and all this,” said Dillard. “I left there really broken and heavy. These conferences opened my eyes to how big this industry is … that individuals are capitalizing on human misery.” Conference tables displayed new kinds of spit masks and shock gloves to prospective correctional customers, some of whom made joking comments about using the devices on the job. “It just blew me away, you know, that she’s bragging about punishing and torturing people in their care,” said Dillard, recalling a woman who made such remarks.
Tylek said that there are over 1,400 manufacturers of correctional and policing equipment nationwide. “Every single state has a correctional conference,” said Tylek. “Every single state has a sheriff’s association,” as well as conferences and associations dedicated to jails, parole and other aspects of the correctional system. Tylek recalled attending the American Correctional Association conference, one of the largest in the nation, where she saw an exhibit hall “with hundreds of corporations” with their own exhibit tables.
“And not just tables,” Tylek told the crowd. “Probably the wildest thing I saw was one company drive a full bus into the convention center, where staff from correctional institutions could step onto the bus and play with all the equipment and trinkets that they were selling. And they gave out free raffle tickets and all these things, and probably the grossest thing that I experienced was all the tickets to private events. And I made my way up to a private event for Securus.” Tylek said that the company is one of the nation’s two largest prison telecommunication companies, and was one of the largest sponsors of the conference that year. “And they had a happy hour that involved a full open bar,” said Tylek, “a full swing dance performance, everyone just having the most joyous time of all. All while on the walls there were the kiosks, the tablets, the phone devices that you could go and speak to a Securus representative while you have your cocktail. And all of this built on about 2 million people who are sitting in a cage somewhere who will never see this, who don’t get to enjoy these luxuries in any of this. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s repulsive, I think, more than anything.”
Later, Tylek elaborated more on how companies use things like gifts and luxury vacations to grow their relationships with correctional and law enforcement leaders. “At conferences, you would get these private event tickets,” she said. At one such event, she recalled, attendees were given hand-rolled cigars. “That’s just the legal stuff that looks gross,” said Tylek. There are also “questionably legal” practices, such as offering “training cruises” in the Caribbean for prison and sheriff staff in brochures distributed during contract bidding processes.
Author and activist Bianca Tylek signs copies of her book The Prison Industry: How It Works & Who Profits. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
On the dark end of the spectrum is bribery, such as the case of a Mississippi prison commissioner who was involved in a bribery and kickback scheme with private prison companies. Tylek highlighted how in Mississippi, a prison commissioner went on to work for a private prison company as a lobbyist. Similar revolving doors exist between the prison industry, especially private prisons, Homeland Security and immigration agencies, said Tylek.
Tylek described the rise of the prison industry as a relatively new phenomenon in America. Prior to the abolition of slavery, she said, the prison population was predominantly white, and only shifted to being predominantly Black in the decades after abolition — a move to “re-confine and re-enslave” Black people. Prison populations continued to grow into the 1970s and 80s, leading into the War on Drugs. “Really around the 1980s is when you start to see industry recognize a potential opportunity,” said Tylek.
That’s the era during which most of the private prison companies featured in her book began to emerge. Private prison industry representatives helped craft some of the nation’s most punitive laws such as three-strikes laws, truth in sentencing and mandatory minimums, which helped grow the prison population. “Those three pieces of model legislation were drafted by the prison industry, and specifically by private prison executives,” said Tylek.
The consequences have been devastating for individuals and families, and also ripple out into society. “The impact of the prison industry bleeds far beyond prison walls,” Tylek said. Among those ripple effects are the cost borne by families that put money on the books for incarcerated loved ones to have food and hygiene supplies or simply to communicate, incarcerated people who work long hours for 14 cents an hour on average, missed child support payments from incarcerated parents and victims who don’t receive restitution. In addition, many small towns which once saw prisons as economic saviors now see them as burdens.
“In the end, all of us are impacted,” said Tylek. “When we exploit people who are incarcerated, or we have a system that wants to put more people behind bars and for longer because a few stand to benefit, then socially we are all harmed by that.”
Waupun prison gates, with no-visitors sign, in the middle of a residential area in Waupun. The city of Waupun was built around the prison, which is Wisconsin’s oldest correctional facility. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
Yet a space ripe with so many problems also invites solutions. In several states, Tylek has been involved in movements to make phone calls to incarcerated people free and in more than one of those places, that effort succeeded. “Something that everyone can understand is what’s the importance of a phone call home,” Tylek told her bookstore audience. Families of incarcerated people often face significant financial challenges, including debt, income loss and unemployment.
In 2017, Tylek began to focus on the prison telecommunications industry. “We led the first successful campaign to make communication completely free in a jail system,” said Tylek. That was in New York, and affected the infamous Rikers Island jail. From 2019 to 2023, Tylek’s organization Worth Rises pushed for free jail calls in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, free prison calls in Connecticut, California, Colorado, Minnesota. Free prison calls were enshrined in the CARES Act as a result of that work. “We’ve been able to save families $600 million to date,” Tylek said, “and generate over 3 billion additional call minutes between people who are incarcerated and their loved ones.”
Dillard recalled celebrating some of those victories with Tylek, but the fight continues. “We’re in a dozen more states trying to fight for the exact same legislation to make communication free in our prisons and jails,” said Tylek. “The outcomes that we get are life-changing. In Connecticut we saw phone volume increase by over 120% overnight. In New York just recently, first data’s coming back and we are north of 40% increases in calling.” Some of that difference is also due to inconsistent call rates across different states, with incarcerated people being charged 2.8 cents per minute in New York versus people in Connecticut who were paying 32.5 cents per minute.
“No matter where it happens, the change is substantial,” said Tylek. “These are real people with real lives. We have talked to families whose autistic child stopped speaking when her father went to prison. And when phone calls became free and he could call home again she started speaking again, her child development changed, she started engaging more in school, and now she’s flourishing, all off a simple phone call.”
Bianca Tylek signs copies of her book (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
“What I love about the examples in Wisconsin is that we had nothing to do with them,” Tylek said, drawing laughter from the audience in Madison. “My biggest goal has been for this movement to take itself.”
Men exercise in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kan. The prison population in Kansas rose nearly 5% between 2022 and 2023. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
The nation’s prison population grew for the second consecutive year in 2023, reversing more than a decade of steady decline.
A new prison population report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, released before the federal shutdown, shows that 1,254,224 people were incarcerated in state and federal prisons on the last day of 2023 — an increase of 24,081 people from the year before, or about 2%.
It follows a rise in 2022, which marked the first uptick since 2010, when prison populations began a gradual decline after peaking in the mid 2000s.
Even with recent increases, the prison population in 2023 was still about 20% below the 2013 level.
The latest figures show that women remain a small share of the prison population, but their numbers are growing faster than men’s.
Between 2022 and 2023, the female prison population rose nearly 4%, from 87,800 to 91,100. The male population increased by nearly 2% during the same period. Thirty-eight states saw growth in their male prison populations, while 41 states reported increases among women.
New Mexico, Maine and South Dakota recorded the highest growth rates in their prison populations.
Seven more populous states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin — added more than 1,000 people to their prison rolls during the same period. New Jersey, Alaska and Hawaii had the largest decreases in rates.
The growth comes as prisons are grappling with another demographic shift: a rapidly aging population. In 2023, nearly 1 in 4 prisoners were 50 or older. That trend is expected to continue, some experts say, with projections that by 2030 as much as one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over 50.
Correctional systems, many of which already face staffing shortages and overcrowding, are under growing pressure as prison populations rise. In recent years, some prisoner advocates and state legislators have pushed for measures such as “second look” laws or expanded parole eligibility that would release people deemed low risk for reoffending. Those could include older adults, people with serious medical needs and those convicted of nonviolent offenses.
The idea has gained traction as a way to lower prison operation costs and ease strain on correctional staff, but it remains controversial. Supporters say targeted decarceration can improve safety inside prisons and save taxpayer dollars, while opponents argue it could jeopardize public safety and that such releases may not significantly lower taxpayer costs.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offers up to $100,000 for vehicle purchases to local law enforcement agencies that assist ICE in apprehending unauthorized immigrants.
ICE announced Sept. 2 that its 287(g)Program also offers other local incentives, including salary and benefits reimbursement for ICE-trained officers and quarterly payments of $500 to $1,000 per officer for finding unauthorized immigrants identified by ICE.
As of Oct. 2, 13 Wisconsin sheriff’s departments, including Brown and Waukesha counties, were working with ICE on unauthorized immigrants in their jails and/or serving immigration warrants on individuals.
The $100,000 is offered to “task force” members. One Wisconsin police department, Palmyra in Jefferson County, is participating. The chief has said his focus is pursuing “criminals.”
ICE says its program targets criminal unauthorized immigrants. Research shows unauthorized immigrants crossing the U.S. border are not more likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
For the first time since 2017, Wisconsin's troubled youth prisons are fully compliant with 50 court-ordered reforms aimed at improving how staff treat young inmates.
Although all can agree that a fatal car crash in Milwaukee on Sept. 16 was a tragedy, there is less consensus on how to prevent similar incidents in the future.
That day Pler Moo, 50, and her two sons, Moo Nay Taw, 21, and Kar Lah Kri Moo, 15, were killed and two other children seriously injured when their car was struck at North 35th and West Vliet streets by another vehicle fleeing police.
Pler Moo, 50, and her two sons, Moo Nay Taw, 21, and Kar Lah Kri Moo, 15, were killed in a crash on Sept. 16. A makeshift memorial was created near the site of the crash. (Video by Jonathan Aguilar/ Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service/ CatchLight Local)
Since the crash, some have called for changes to police pursuit policies, while others blame the crashes on those who flee police.
“It is a very complex issue,” said Ruth Ehrgott, whose pregnant daughter, Erin Mogensen, was killed in 2023 when a reckless driver fleeing police crashed into her car.
“I will always stop anybody that says, ‘Well, you know, the problem is … .’ These problems are too complex for that.”
Ehrgott takes a nuanced approach to reckless driving through the nonprofit she founded in honor of her daughter, Enough is Enough – A Legacy for Erin.
She believes the entire community has a part to play in reducing deaths and injuries from reckless driving.
Ongoing trend
Pieces of a car involved in a fatal crash that killed three lie on the ground at a memorial in the parking lot of Smoky’s near North 35th and West Vliet streets in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
The crash that occurred Sept. 16 likely would not have happened a decade ago, when the Milwaukee Police Department restricted vehicle pursuits to violent felonies.
In 2017, then-Police Chief Edward Flynn expanded the department’s policy to allow pursuits in cases involving drug dealing and reckless driving.
The following year, police pursuits rose 155% – from 369 instances to 940 – with about two-thirds of the chases initiated because of reckless driving, according to a report from the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. In 2024, there were 957 police pursuits in Milwaukee, and just under one-third ended in a crash, according to another Fire and Police Commission report.
There have been five deaths caused by crashes during police pursuits in Milwaukee since July. On July 29, El Moctar Sidiya was killed when a man fleeing officers crashed into his car on West Brady Street. On Aug. 23, Hasan Harris died after his car was struck by an individual who was fleeing police on West Center Street.
The increase of pursuit-related deaths in Milwaukee is often cited as evidence of a link between looser pursuit policies and greater traffic risks, said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and an expert on police pursuits.
MPD acknowledges the widespread effects of these pursuits.
“Police pursuits present significant challenges due to the physical, emotional and financial impact on officers, the public and fleeing suspects,” an MPD spokesperson told NNS.
Change to pursuit policy
In 2024, there were 957 police pursuits in Milwaukee, and just under one-third ended in a crash, according to the Fire and Police Commission. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service file photo)
Alpert said if the goal is to reduce traffic injuries and deaths, pursuits should be limited to cases involving violent crimes.
He also said it is a myth that limiting police chases to violent crimes causes an increase in other offenses, such as drug dealing. He cited a study in Virginia that found more narrow pursuit policies did not lead to higher crime rates.
There were calls to change MPD’s pursuit policy from members of the public during a Fire and Police Commission meeting on Sept. 18.
Kayla Patterson put it bluntly in her public comment.
“Committing crimes and traffic stops should not be death sentences,” she said.
Others weigh in
Mayor Cavalier Johnson, while speaking at a news conference on Sept. 18, addressed reckless driving and high-speed pursuits.
He said that traffic-calming measures had reduced reckless driving in the city, but high-speed chases involving police remain a serious problem.
Johnson said the city is considering different options, including using technology to warn people about pursuits.
But the primary responsibility for stopping chases is on those who flee, Johnson said.
“I believe that one of the most effective things we can do in order to eliminate these chases … is to listen to officer commands to pull the vehicles over and not proceed with the chase,” Johnson said.
Ald. Peter Burgelis, vice chair of the Milwaukee Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee, agrees.
“Criminals fleeing from police contribute to injuries and deaths,” Burgelis said in an email to NNS.
Calling the Sept. 16 crash “particularly devastating,” Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern said police must be involved in the response to reckless driving.
“It is important to keep in mind that reckless driving has injured and killed a number of innocent people in our community, without any police pursuits involved,” Lovern said. “Police cancel pursuits where the public safety concerns indicate that is the appropriate course of action.”
Drea Rodriguez, global program officer at WomenServe, suggested that police get more training, including on ideal routes to take.
In this way, she said, residents can be a part of the solution and “easily share some hot spots to be aware of.”
A spokesperson for MPD said the department is committed to making sure its training, policies and risk mitigation strategies reflect national best practices.
Ehrgott said in addition to proper training for police, there should be strong repercussions for those who flee from police in addition to greater awareness of its dangers.
“These problems are societal,” Ehrgott said. “It’s happening to all of us.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
The Wisconsin State Patrol and the Wisconsin School Bus Association successfully completed Operation Safe Stop Week, a statewide campaign held from Sept. 22 to 26, aimed at improving student safety and raising awareness about school bus laws.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) previously announced the joint effort in a press release, highlighting its focus on public education, increased enforcement around school buses, and efforts to curb dangerous driving behaviors near student pick-up and drop-off zones.
During the week, authorities carried out targeted enforcement at high-risk bus stops, conducted vehicle inspections, and launched public outreach initiatives. The campaign’s primary goal was to reduce illegal passing incidents and ensure that students could travel to and from school without danger.
Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan emphasized the importance of collaboration, stating, “The partnership with the Wisconsin School Bus Association and its drivers is essential in keeping both students and other road users safe. It’s critical that every driver understands and follows the rules of the road, especially around school buses.”
In 2024, over 1,200 citations were issued across Wisconsin to drivers who failed to stop for school buses with flashing red lights. Under state law, all drivers must stop at least 20 feet from a bus when its red lights are flashing, unless traveling on the opposite side of a divided highway. Buses also use amber lights to warn drivers that a stop is approaching.
Leading up to the campaign, the Wisconsin School Bus Association (WSBA) identified high-risk areas for illegal passing. Wisconsin State Patrol officers closely monitored these locations and performed safety checks to ensure bus warning systems were operating properly.
Cherie Hime, executive director of WSBA, noted via the release the ongoing commitment to student safety. “This initiative continues to serve as a vital effort to protect children and promote safe transportation. WSBA members are thankful for the long-standing partnership with the Wisconsin State Patrol on this important educational campaign,” she added.
As of March 2024, stricter penalties under Wisconsin Act 154 are now in effect. Motorists who fail to stop for a school bus face a $676.50 fine and four demerit points on their license.
Child abuse, neglect or endangerment laws were used to charge hundreds of pregnant people with crimes in the two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, underscoring the rise of fetal personhood laws, according to a new report. (Getty Images)
More than 400 people were charged with pregnancy-related crimes during the two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, research released Tuesday shows.
Prosecutors across the country often charged people with some form of child neglect, endangerment or abuse based on allegations of substance use during pregnancy, according to an annual report from the nonprofit Pregnancy Justice.
Nearly three dozen cases were brought against people who miscarried or delivered stillborns, and in nine cases, pregnant people were accused of obtaining, attempting or researching abortion.
“Prosecutors are wielding criminal laws to surveil and criminalize pregnant people, their behavior and their pregnancy outcomes,” Dana Sussman, Pregnancy Justice’s senior vice president, told States Newsroom.
Although charges against those experiencing pregnancy loss are less common, Sussman said she fears they could lead people to avoid seeking miscarriage care.
For instance, a woman who miscarried at home was charged with abuse of a corpse in September 2023, Ohio Capital Journal reported.
Brittany Watts was around 21 weeks pregnant when she went to the hospital but waited for hours and didn’t get help, according to the Capital Journal, and after she miscarried at home, she returned to the hospital, where staff called police. She was never indicted, and she filed a federal lawsuit in January against the city of Warren, police, hospital officials and hospital staff.
“Rather than being able to grieve her loss, she was taken away in handcuffs. She was interrogated in her hospital bed while she was still tethered to IVs, and so she wants compensation for her own trauma, but most importantly, wants to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Rachel Brady, Watts’ attorney, told States Newsroom in June.
Watts’ lawsuit alleges local law enforcement and the hospital violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide stabilizing medical treatment regardless of a person’s ability to pay or insurance status. The defendants denied liability and the plaintiff’s claims, according to court documents filed in September.
In this year’s report, pregnancy-related cases cropped up in 16 states, and states with strict abortion bans topped the list again: Alabama (192), Oklahoma (112) and South Carolina (62).
“If you are doing anything that exposes your pregnancy, your fetus to some real risk, perceived or assumed risk, in certain parts of the country, that is a felony,” Sussman said.
Fetal personhood — the notion that fetuses, zygotes and embryos should have the same legal rights as human beings — comes into play when pregnant people struggling with addiction are drug tested during checkups or at labor and delivery units, Sussman said.
“In several states, it’s become relatively common practice for people to be charged with a felony for child endangerment or neglect for simply testing positive” on toxicology tests, Sussman said. “And that carries years in prison, and of course, immediate family separation from your newborn and even from your other children in your home, in your family.”
An investigation by The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today and three other news outlets in 2023 found that local law enforcement and prosecutors in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina applied child abuse and neglect laws to fetuses when pursuing charges against pregnant women.
Lawmakers in a few states have pitched legislation seeking to curb punitive approaches to addiction among expectant and new mothers.
A bill advancing in the New York Legislature would require informed consent for drug testing and screening pregnant and postpartum patients unless it’s medically necessary. Legislation took effect in Washington state this summer that prevents the criminalization of pregnancy loss, and requires officials at jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers to report miscarriages and stillbirths to the state annually. Massachusetts legislators passed a law in December that prevents medical professionals from automatically referring substance-exposed newborns to the state Department of Children and Families.
Prosecutors obtained information about pregnancy-related crimes from health care facilities in 264 out of 412 cases, even in incidents that did not allege substance use, according to the Pregnancy Justice report.
“If people are worrying about losing their children because of family separation through the child welfare system or by going to jail, they are not going to get the care that they need,” Sussman said. “Pregnancy is seen as a moment and a window of opportunity for people to get care. People are motivated, uniquely motivated, and we really squander that opportunity when we turn health care into a place of reporting.”
This story was originally produced by News From The States, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks with reporters inside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee said Tuesday the Government Accountability Office should sue the Trump administration over its efforts to freeze or unilaterally cancel spending approved by Congress.
“I believe that GAO, which is empowered under the Impoundment and Budget Control Act of 1974 to sue in cases, should do so,” Sen. Susan Collins said. “The GAO has found seven instances in which the (impoundments) violate the act and it has standing to sue.”
Collins, R-Maine, also told reporters that she doesn’t agree with the Supreme Court’s decision last week on its emergency docket that allows the Trump administration to cancel $4 billion in foreign aid.
“I disagree with the Supreme Court’s temporary decision, but it was not a decision that delved into the merits of the case,” Collins said. “That’s yet to come.”
Collins, one of the more vocal members of her party over preserving Congress’ constitutional power of the purse, said “Well, let’s see,” when asked if she expects the GAO, a government watchdog agency, would win a lawsuit over the Trump administration impounding funds.
The GAO and White House budget office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Funds frozen for libraries, medical research, FEMA
Republicans in Congress have been either supportive or relatively quiet about the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze or cancel funding approved by Congress.
The GAO has cited the Trump administration for illegally impounding funding for electric vehicle charging, museums and libraries, Head Start, energy efficiency upgrades in K-12 schools, funding for medical research at the National Institutes of Health and funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., released a statement earlier this week rebuking the Trump administration’s actions after the GAO released its seventh impoundment decision.
“Today, we have another stark reminder of how President Trump’s lawless assault on our spending laws is hurting real people in every part of the country—as funding is held up to address homelessness, prepare for disasters, and much more,” Murray wrote. “It is time for Republicans to join us in insisting that every last penny that is owed to the American people gets out to the American people.”
The U.S. Capitol is seen behind a barricade on Sept. 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. If lawmakers fail to reach a bipartisan compromise on the funding bill, the federal government shutdown will begin at midnight. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — A government shutdown could have significant economic consequences, though an analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it’s difficult to pinpoint ramifications without knowing the length of a funding lapse or how exactly the Trump administration will try to reshape the federal workforce.
Director Phillip L. Swagel wrote in a four-page letter the agency projects about 750,000 federal workers would be furloughed, leading to a $400 million impact per day.
“The number of furloughed employees could vary by the day because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees,” Swagel wrote.
The economic impacts and ramifications for business activity are hard to predict, he wrote, because it’s not yet clear how exactly the Trump administration will handle a shutdown or how long it will take congressional leaders to broker a stopgap funding agreement.
The partial government shutdown that began in December 2018 and lasted through January 2019 led to a loss of about $3 billion in gross domestic product that couldn’t be recovered, according to a prior CBO analysis that was referenced in the letter.
That represented about 0.02% of annual GDP in 2019.
Swagel wrote the “effects of a government shutdown on business activity are uncertain, and their magnitude would depend on the duration of a shutdown and on decisions made by the Administration.
“CBO expects that if a government shutdown persisted for several weeks, some private-sector entities would never recover all of the income they lost as a result of the suspension of federal activity.”
CBO conducted the analysis after receiving a request from Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.
Thune, Schumer debate shutdown on Senate floor
A government shutdown will begin Wednesday unless congressional leaders broker a stopgap funding agreement before the new fiscal year starts.
That seemed like a long shot early Tuesday afternoon as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., engaged in a brief debate on the floor, a rarity.
Thune said Democrats would have the same leverage on health care issues they have now in mid-November, when the stopgap spending bill that passed the House but stalled in the Senate would expire.
“They will have another funding cliff they can take advantage of come November the 21st,” Thune said. “This funds the government and protects federal workers and the American people from the hostage-taking that has become, evidently, now the Democratic norm. Even though it’s something they decried not that many years ago.”
Thune told reporters afterward the chamber would likely be out of session for Yom Kippur, which begins shortly before sunset on Wednesday and continues until Thursday night, but would otherwise hold votes during a shutdown.
“We will observe the Jewish holiday, but I would expect additional votes throughout the week,” Thune said. “I mean, we filed last night on a whole new bunch of (nominees) and I would expect additional votes on funding the government.”
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., canceled the House’s schedule for this week and doesn’t plan for that chamber to go back into session until Oct. 6 at the earliest.
Meeting breaks up with no deal
Congressional leaders, including Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, but were unable to make progress toward a stopgap funding agreement.
Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday that Democrats need a deal with GOP leaders to extend the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
“In a day or two, millions of Americans — millions — are going to get notices that their insurance premiums will rise an average of $400 a month, $5,000 a year,” Schumer said. “A middle-class family can’t afford that. We want to renew those credits, among other things in health care. But renew those credits so that people won’t pay that horrible increase.”
Schumer called Republican assertions that Democrats want immigrants without legal status to have access to federal health care programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, “utter bull.”
“There is no money, not a penny of federal dollars that are going there. So why do they bring this up? Because they’re afraid to talk about the real issue, which is health care for American citizens, health care for people who need the health care and can’t afford these premiums,” Schumer said.
Without a new funding law before the start of the fiscal year at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, the government will begin shutting down.
The ramifications will be significantly broader than the 35-day shutdown that took place during Trump’s first term, when five of the dozen full-year government spending bills had become law.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has also called on Trump administration officials to implement mass layoffs during a prolonged funding lapse.
Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he didn’t want a shutdown but that his administration might take sweeping action to restructure the federal government if one does begin.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump said, referring to Democrats. “So they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown, because because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits.”
An incarcerated person sits inside a housing block at California’s San Quentin State Prison. People 55 and older make up about 19% of the state’s prison population. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
America’s prison population is growing older at a pace that some experts say is unsustainable. As of 2022, the latest year with available data, people 55 and over made up nearly 1 in 6 prisoners — a fourfold increase since 2000 — and their numbers are projected to keep rising.
A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin warns that this trend is straining correctional systems that were not designed to care for older adults.
If current trends continue, the authors estimate that by 2030 as much as one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over 50.
“It puts it into perspective how bad that this has gotten,” said Alyssa Gordon, the report’s lead author. Gordon is an attorney and legal fellow with the ACLU National Prison Project. “People don’t realize that prisons are woefully equipped to handle this crisis.”
The findings are based on data from public records requests to all 50 state corrections departments, publicly available state prison population datasets and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Some data, however, were not available for every state, limiting the authors’ ability to make extended state-by-state comparisons.
The report’s findings come as states face competing pressures: a nationwide crackdown on crime and public safety, tightening corrections budgets and severe overcrowding and staffing shortages.
The aging prison population is largely a product of the “tough-on-crime” era of the 1980s and 1990s, when lawmakers at both the state and federal level enacted a wave of punitive policies under the banner of public safety, according to the report. These policies, including mandatory minimums, “three strikes” laws and “truth-in-sentencing” statutes, led to significantly longer sentences and fewer opportunities for early release. Experts say many of those policies remain in place today.
The report also highlights the growing price tag of incarcerating an aging population. Corrections spending data shows an upward trend in medical costs across some states, according to the report.
Prisons often lack accommodations for older adults, including accessible showers and beds, dementia care and hospice services, putting them at greater risk of injury or premature death, according to the report.
Emergency protocols also are frequently inadequate, the authors found, leaving older prisoners particularly vulnerable during natural disasters, disease outbreaks and other emergencies.
Some experts say that the costs of incarcerating older adults could create common ground for policymakers, as reducing this population may lower prison spending without significantly affecting public safety.
“If you want to figure out which population to target where it doesn’t have a public safety implication, this is the population to turn to,” Michele Deitch, one of the report’s authors and the director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, told Stateline. “This is an issue that can gather bipartisan support.”
The report’s authors estimate that more than half of incarcerated people over 55 — more than 58,000 individuals — have already served at least 10 years, with nearly 16,000 behind bars for more than half their lives.
Older adults are less likely to reoffend, with recidivism rates reported at 18% in Colorado in 2020, 12% in South Carolina in 2021, and 6% in Florida in 2022. These rates are far below the national three-year rearrest rate of 66% for the general prison population, according to the report.
In recent years, more states have explored measures to address the aging prison population, including legislation commonly called “second look” laws or policies that expand parole eligibility for older or seriously ill inmates.
Most recently, a new Maryland law, which is set to take effect on Oct. 1, will allow certain incarcerated people to apply for geriatric parole. The law applies to those who are at least 65, have served at least 20 years, are not sex offenders, are serving sentences with the possibility of parole, and have had no serious disciplinary infractions in the past three years.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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