(C) Wisconsin Watch
This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered.
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As state legislators tinker with reform, a Milwaukee man continues doing ‘dead time’ [1]
['Devin Blake']
Date: 2024-08-21
Rep. Darrin Madison, D-Milwaukee, speaks at a news conference held by a coalition of legislative Democrats and stakeholders on Nov. 2, 2023, in the Assembly Chamber at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. They spoke about the conditions of confinement in county and state correctional institutions and proposed a package of bills to address the conditions. (Evan Halpop / Wisconsin Watch)
What Gawaine Edwards would like to do with his remaining 12 years in prison and what he is able to do are worlds apart.
“I’m being forced to stay in a place that has absolutely nothing for me. It’s not teaching me anything,” Edwards said.
Edwards points to the elimination of parole, which took place in Wisconsin more than 20 years ago, as the central reason for his predicament.
As some legislators propose reforms, Edwards said his time, and the time of many others, is being wasted.
He’s not being as productive as he wants, not learning what he wants and, in his opinion, not being effectively rehabilitated.
“I’m stuck here doing all this dead time,” Edwards said.
Edwards has served time in various prisons in the state and is currently at New Lisbon Correctional Institution, located in Juneau County, the central region of the state.
Edwards’ backstory
Edwards, who grew up on the North Side, was charged with felony murder/armed robbery and first-degree reckless injury in November 2000.
He was found guilty on both charges and, at the age of 22, sentenced to a total of 35 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision.
As it stands, Edwards will be released from prison in April 2036, at the age of 57.
But he believes that his debt to society has already been paid in full.
He wants to get out and help his wife more – she’s a small business owner who also has had health issues recently.
Gawaine Edwards poses with his wife at New Lisbon Correctional Institution. Edwards has been incarcerated for more than 20 years and wants more opportunities to
use his time productively. (Photo provided by Gawaine Edwards)
He also has adult children he would like to spend more time with.
“I never got a chance to be a dad because I got locked up,” Edwards said.
What is Truth in Sentencing?
Edwards cannot be released for another 12 years because he committed his crime after the enactment of 1997 Wisconsin Act 283, more commonly known as the Truth-in-Sentencing law.
This law changed prison sentences from indeterminate to determinate, which means that the amount of time a person must serve is determined by the judge at time of sentencing and cannot be reduced later with parole.
Wisconsin’s Truth-in-Sentencing law was part of a national trend of states adopting such laws – with the main goal of eliminating what was seen as the troubling gap between a person’s sentence and the amount of time they actually served.
“The politics were pretty similar surrounding all of these laws. They were adopted in the 1990s when ‘tough on crime’ politics were at their height,” said Michael O’Hear, law professor at Marquette University Law School and an expert on criminal punishment.
While there have been some adjustments to the original Truth-in-Sentencing law, “the basic architecture” remains the same, O’Hear said.
“The (Wisconsin) Parole Commission is completely out of the business of doing anything at all with respect to crimes that were committed on or after Dec. 31, 1999,” he said
Because of the nature of his offenses, Edwards also is unlikely to benefit from other avenues of securing an earlier release.
Those convicted of a violent offense are generally ineligible for sentence adjustment provisions and earned release programs, said Jillian Slaight, managing legislative analyst at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau.
Quantity vs. Quality
However, Edwards still cares how he spends his time.
Much of his time currently is spent at his job inside New Lisbon. He earns about 17 cents an hour pushing people in their wheelchairs to health appointments.
Edwards said he wants to go to a different prison where he can “do something that’s beneficial to me, to where, if I did get out, I can make money.”
After more than 20 years of incarceration, he feels he deserves a shot at a work-release program, which allows incarcerated individuals to work outside the prison while still serving their sentences.
Work-release programs are designed to develop people’s future employability and simply help them earn more money. These programs are available within the Wisconsin Department of Corrections but to those at minimum-security prisons.
New Lisbon is a medium-security prison.
The Department of Corrections’ policy explicitly outlines how a person’s sentence length factors into a person’s custody classification, which, in turn, determines their programming eligibility.
Rock and a hard place
Another factor to consider is that what is theoretically available in prisons is not what is always actually available.
Two of the vocational programs that have been offered in the past at New Lisbon – bakery and cabinetry – are currently shut down.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Corrections have pointed to chronic staffing shortages as a reason why typical programming and resources are not always available.
With many of the educational and treatment programs, demand is higher than capacity, said Kevin Hoffman, deputy director of communications at the Department of Corrections.
“Gov. Evers and our leadership have consistently supported funding for new programming initiatives,” Hoffman said.
While there have been salary increases for security staff, these raises do not apply to teachers and health care professionals.
Nevertheless, Hoffman said, the department offers a “vast number” of programming and educational opportunities.
As the department looks to recruit staff to resume cabinetry and baking at New Lisbon, it does have a framing course and customer service training running, Hoffman said.
Current reform efforts
“Certainly those of us on the left know that it (Truth-in-Sentencing) has been a disaster,” said Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee.
Clancy, along with others, argues that Truth-in-Sentencing laws do not help people who are incarcerated nor do they contribute to public safety.
“I’ve heard from many current and former correctional officers and people who are or were incarcerated that Truth-in-Sentencing does not encourage rehabilitation because there is no incentive for good behavior,” said Rep. Darrin Madison, D-Milwaukee. “Instead, it can cause individuals to lose hope, knowing nothing will change their sentence and only ‘dead time’ awaits.”
Both Clancy and Madison are members of the state’s Assembly Committee on Corrections, which reviews and amends legislation relating to the correctional system.
The Department of Corrections provides a similar analysis as Clancy and Madison do.
The department also maintains that prisons are made more dangerous for both staff and those incarcerated without effective programming and rehabilitation, Hoffman said.
Encouraging better choices
Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, also on the corrections committee, said in an email that he does not believe rehabilitation was the intent of Truth-in-Sentencing.
“Truth-in-Sentencing was created to affect choices and behavior with the goal of discouraging individuals from crossing specific criminal lines,” he said. “In talking with many inmates over time, Truth-in-Sentencing is something they are aware of and attempt to avoid.”
“To this extent, there is a measure of benefit to the offenders by encouraging them to make better choices,” O’Connor added.
While O’Connor said that he would like incarcerated individuals to have earlier access to programming, he said it’s also important to “step back and address the balance of who has lost opportunities.”
“How does this victim of sex trafficking ever find normal,” he said. “The murder victim and their families have lost all opportunities for the future.”
Clancy, Madison and other Democratic colleagues proposed a package of 17 bills – called the “Conditions of Confinement” package – to, among other things, improve access to programming and other recreational activities for those who are incarcerated.
The package included 2023 Assembly Bill 771, which would guarantee at least three to five hours per day of programming, per individual and lead to “a dramatic difference in the quality of life for individuals currently incarcerated,” Madison said.
This bill failed to pass in April.
“People need to take this issue seriously because there are some of us who actually want to do better and are trying to do better, but we’re stuck in a system where we can’t,” Edwards said.
Devin Blake is the criminal justice reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. His position is funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, which plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
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