According to Governor Doyle and the Democratic co-Chairmen of the Joint Finance Committee, we have money in this budget to place public school education support staff who work 2.5 hrs/day on the state pension plan, money to expand benefits for the boyfriends and girlfriends of state employees, money to allow adult illegal aliens to receive tuition breaks at the UW system, but apparently the State does not have enough money to keep arsonists and sex offenders in prison for their whole terms.
Today, the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance will consider proposals that will gut the State’s Truth-in-Sentencing Law and will release prisoners before their sentences are completed.
This includes convicted drug dealers, arsonists and some sex offenders, among other felons.
From the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis:
It should be noted that under the bill, while offenders subject to a special bulletin notice are ineligible for the sentence adjustments, other sex offenders would be eligible. During his budget testimony before the Joint Committee on Finance, however, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections indicated that the intent of the proposed language was to exclude all sex offenders who are required to register on the sex offender registry.
Oops.
In their zeal to gut a law that makes prisoners serve their full sentences, the Doyle Administration ‘accidentally’ included sex offenders in the list of those who get a break.
Others who are eligible for early release under this soft-on-crime provision includes arsonists, repeat drunk driver felons, cocaine dealers, kidnappers and dozens of other unsavory convicts who are hoping to use Wisconsin’s dire budget situation to catch a break.
One word comes to mind.
Priorities.
Here is the source document which includes the entire list of felons looking to the Doyle Administration to catch an early release: 275.pdf