our justice system has been garbage from the get go!! Yeah lets put pple in prison for non-payment of childsupport that makes sense our justice system is full of local IDIOTS!! we need all the murderers rapists and pedophiles as well as thieves in prison not people who cant pay a bill!

imjustsayin- are you serious? Yes, lets deprive people of their freedom in favor of modern day slavery. Prisons provide jobs-true- but at best this is an income shifting scheme. Where do you think the money comes from to pay for the prison guards?

As a society we can claim anything is a crime and punish it with a jail sentence. It is within the rights of the states to define and punish crime and there is very little restriction on this power from the federal government. So, go ahead, champion drug users being in prison all you want because someday the person being charged with a nonsensical crime will be you or someone in your family.

The correctional system is useful in only two ways: 1) to isolate dangerous people from society, and 2) to deter crime. If a prison sentence fails these two objectives than it is the wrong option. We can not continue to put people in jail because it feels good. We can not afford it and we are doing nothing but creating more criminals who now (thanks to the stiff sentence that made us feel so good) are even better at crime and have an absurdly huge and useful network of other criminals to rely on.

thekid3477, what you said makes no sense. If we don't have users we would not have suppliers

im w u biggirl

Let's revisit how we treat non-violent offenders, especially drug users.

Prisons bring good paying jobs to the areas where they're built, so building more prisons would create many jobs. Also, using prison labor would help lower product costs for Wisconsin businesses.
I'm just sayin...

jvillerdr, as best I can determine, total revenue from prison enterprises is measured in millions, meaning it's just possible that it's more than 1% of the budget.
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The United States puts people in prison at nearly three times the rate of other industrialized nations. If it "worked" we would have the lowest crime rate. We do not. Conclusion: The US just likes putting people in prison, and doesn't pay much attention to whether something works or not.

Well said Mentor397!

It's interesting that you fault me for stating we're winning either way and then go on to state that it automatically means we're losing.

Does spending more than Minnesota mean were losing? Is Minnesota the bar we should be aiming for? I made my statement to make a point and I think I proved it.

Comparing apples and oranges and determining that oranges tend to be rounder doesn't make those oranges taste better.

let the pot smokers go. we dont arrest people for using alcohol. we didnt even arrest people for using alcohol during prohibition. americans in jail for smoking a plant is beyond ridiculous and a complete waste of tax dollars. waste yo money on the supplier NOT THE USER.

Having worked in the correctins field, the article fails to mention that inmates on parole and probation have to pay supervision fees each month to their respective agents, and for those inmates on work release, they pay a certain percentage out of their paychecks for meals, room and board (if you will) and for some, that total can be more than the cost of an apartment. So although wisconsin may be higher in the rankings, at least some of these inmates/paroled individuals are paying the state monetarally to help cover some costs back to the state

It is not clear from this brief report whether the study considered revenue from prison labor as part of the overall conclusion. Wisconsin may be "spending" more on prisons, but we don't know whether Wisconsin also has more prison-generated revenue than Minnesota to offset the spending as a result of Wisconsin's "Badger Industries" prison-manufactured goods enterprise.

"winning either way"?? Spending more than $1 billion is not winning..the state is broke and we cannot continue to spend like this..looks like Minnesota has a better way..

Is this a contest? We're winning either way.