Dane Co. Task Force on Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System
The elephant in the room
The elephant in the room
By Jonathan Gramling
In 2005, Black Commentator, a weekly Internet magazine, called Wisconsin the
worst place to be Black in America due to its high rates of African American
incarceration with 11.60 African Americans being imprisoned for every one Euro-
American. In 2006, Governor James Doyle established the Commission on Reducing
Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System, which issued its report on
findings and recommendations in February 2008.
Dane County, which has one of the highest African American young male
incarceration rates in the nation took notice. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk
and County Board Chairman Scott McDonell responded to a request by the Dane
County’s Equal Opportunities Commission to evaluate the situation in Dane County
and report back to the county board and county executive.
Thus in September 2008, the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the
Criminal Justice System was established with co-chairs Celia Jackson and Laurie
Mlatawou. After a year of gathering data, listening to expert testimony and conducting
four public hearings at which over 200 people testified, the Task Force released its
final report on September 30 at a press conference in front of the City-County Building.
In some ways, the conclusions of the report were nothing new. “Just realizing there
In 2005, Black Commentator, a weekly Internet magazine, called Wisconsin the
worst place to be Black in America due to its high rates of African American
incarceration with 11.60 African Americans being imprisoned for every one Euro-
American. In 2006, Governor James Doyle established the Commission on Reducing
Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System, which issued its report on
findings and recommendations in February 2008.
Dane County, which has one of the highest African American young male
incarceration rates in the nation took notice. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk
and County Board Chairman Scott McDonell responded to a request by the Dane
County’s Equal Opportunities Commission to evaluate the situation in Dane County
and report back to the county board and county executive.
Thus in September 2008, the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the
Criminal Justice System was established with co-chairs Celia Jackson and Laurie
Mlatawou. After a year of gathering data, listening to expert testimony and conducting
four public hearings at which over 200 people testified, the Task Force released its
final report on September 30 at a press conference in front of the City-County Building.
In some ways, the conclusions of the report were nothing new. “Just realizing there
is an elephant in the room is important,” said Jerome Dillard, a member of the task force. “For so long, we’ve ignored that.”
It is a pretty big elephant to ignore. “It is a tragedy that here in Dane County that one-half of African American young men are in prison, on
probation or parole or some type of extended supervision,” Jackson said during her remarks. “How in the world did we get here? How does this
match up with the image of Dane County being one of the best places to live and raise a family. For me as an African American mother of two
individuals, one male and one female, if I had two sons, chances are that one of them would be caught up in the criminal justice system based
on this statistic. That is something that we all need to be concerned about.”
Jackson then went on to rhetorically speculate about some of the causes of the disparity. “Why is there such a high disparity in Dane
County,” Jackson asked. “Is it because we have so much income disparity? Is it because we have a university here and there is educational
disparity? Is it that we have a tale of two cities as it has been described where some people are very affluent and others are not as affluent?
And those that are not as affluent, we don’t necessarily see them. They’re kind of hidden in different parts of the city. Many people of color do not
graduate from high school. And with such a small population here in Dane County, being around five percent that are African American and an
equal percent of Latinos, people of color stand out due to these small numbers. There is also an assertion that because Madison is located near
several large urban areas such as Chicago and Milwaukee, there are a number of people who migrate here because of the quality of life. I think
we all know that Madison has been reported to be one of the best places to live in a number of instances. But I bet that many of you did not
know that in the report published year that Wisconsin is one of the worst places for African Americans to live.”
Jackson noted that Americans have a very difficult time talking about race, but that the beginning of the solution to racial disparities is
dialogue followed up by action. “What we have here is a set of very comprehensive recommendations,” Jackson said. “I just want to highlight
a few of the top ones for you this afternoon. The first one — the most important one — is a call to action of the leadership in Dane County to come
together and acknowledge that racial disparity exists, that it exists in our criminal justice system. I could probably assert that it exists in other
aspects of the community as well. But we’re here to talk today about the criminal justice system. Just in owning and acknowledging that the
racial disparity exists is a huge step forward. It’s an issue that we don’t like to talk about. The next step requires the leaders to commit to
reducing it. We need leaders in the community. We need government officials. We need community advocates. We need ‘Joe Blow’ citizens. We
need everyone to come to the table in order to bring a broad cross section of Dane County together to address this issue. It has got to be
addressed across the board. It is urgent. It is critical. And it is necessary for us to move these recommendations forward. Without the political
will, without collaboration and without a sense of solidarity, these recommendations just become issues for people to agree or not to agree on
and they become lost in the budget process. So I am really urging people to actually allow ourselves to go a little bit deeper when we talk about
these issues of racial disparity.”
Jackson then talked about some of the recommendations in the report. “Some of the top priorities that have been identified from the task
force include additional funding for diversion programs, increased funding for community-based organizations to prevent entry into the criminal
justice system or reentry into the system, the drivers’ license recovery program, establishing a restorative justice program that really
addresses the harm that has been created and actually works with people in a way of not being as punitive, but rather correcting the harm. We
also recommend supporting a universal inmate screening project so that people making decisions regarding individuals coming before them in
the system actually have more detailed information and not just information that is on a police report, bringing the Vera Institute here to actually
do an analysis on what’s happening in the prosecutor’s office here in Dane County to give them some assistance on how they can identify those
areas where the racial disparity exists. Also recommended is finding a grant writer to find additional monies, especially because we know the
budget is so strapped at this time here in Dane County, community support programs for returning offenders and the need for mental health
treatment, creating a community of opportunity by actually investing proactively in some of our neighborhood-based initiatives and doing
something called racial impact statements as certain policies are created to see how those things might impact a particular community,
increasing the number of people working in the criminal justice system and devising a community education program so that people have a
better understanding on the types of things that they need to know and really have a better understanding of their rights.”
County Executive Kathleen Falk recognized the importance of the report and the need to begin work on the recommendations immediately.
“I am committed to making changes that they recommend,” Falk said. “While budgets are tight, we already see the product of their work
because when the two chairs briefed me recently on what these recommendations would include, I know providing another point of entry for the
mentally ill that wouldn’t have police needing to deploy their valuable resources. Having a better solution to that is in my budget that goes to the
County Board tomorrow by creating a mental health crisis stabilization center. So I hope your work has already seen some results.”
Jerome Dillard, a task force member, is an ex-offender who has experienced the criminal justice system first hand. And what strikes him
as important is increasing the diversity of those who are employed in the criminal justice system. “When a person comes in contact with the
system, often times from arrest to conviction to incarceration all the way to coming out under the probation and parole system, very seldom do
they see anyone who looks like them or feel that they are being represented in this process,” Dillard said after the press conference. “I think that
would be a start in the turnaround with the disparities that we have in this county. We’re underrepresented in the DA’s office. We’re
underrepresented in the public defender’s office. How many judges of color are on the stand? How many bailiffs of color have you seen in the
courts? In my experience, it’s been Judge Martin who just recently retired. There are very few people of color who work in the county jail. We
need to look at that and incorporate individuals who look like the people going through the system.”
Linda Hoskins, a task force member and the president of the NAACP-Madison Branch feels that a change in attitudes is important. “This
system doesn’t give a person a second chance,” Hoskins said. “Once you get in the system, it’s hard to get out. The motto here is ‘You come
here on a vacation, you leave here on probation.’”
While the task force looked especially at the problems African Americans are experiencing, Pedro Albiter, a task force member,
emphasized that other people of color feel the impact too. “The Latino community is joining with African Americans to reduce these racial
disparities in the criminal justice system because as you know, it isn’t just Black and White. It’s also Latinos who are affected by disparities,”
Albiter said.
County Board Chair Scott McDonell admitted that the results are not going to happen overnight. “This is not a very good year for us to get a
report with lots of recommendations on how we can improve our system and spend money,” McDonell noted. “But this will be something that
we use year in and year out for the next decade. I’m grateful that we have a tool to begin to rid us of this black mark on our county. I look
forward to spending the next several years implementing this report.”
For many young African American men, the solutions will not come soon enough.
It is a pretty big elephant to ignore. “It is a tragedy that here in Dane County that one-half of African American young men are in prison, on
probation or parole or some type of extended supervision,” Jackson said during her remarks. “How in the world did we get here? How does this
match up with the image of Dane County being one of the best places to live and raise a family. For me as an African American mother of two
individuals, one male and one female, if I had two sons, chances are that one of them would be caught up in the criminal justice system based
on this statistic. That is something that we all need to be concerned about.”
Jackson then went on to rhetorically speculate about some of the causes of the disparity. “Why is there such a high disparity in Dane
County,” Jackson asked. “Is it because we have so much income disparity? Is it because we have a university here and there is educational
disparity? Is it that we have a tale of two cities as it has been described where some people are very affluent and others are not as affluent?
And those that are not as affluent, we don’t necessarily see them. They’re kind of hidden in different parts of the city. Many people of color do not
graduate from high school. And with such a small population here in Dane County, being around five percent that are African American and an
equal percent of Latinos, people of color stand out due to these small numbers. There is also an assertion that because Madison is located near
several large urban areas such as Chicago and Milwaukee, there are a number of people who migrate here because of the quality of life. I think
we all know that Madison has been reported to be one of the best places to live in a number of instances. But I bet that many of you did not
know that in the report published year that Wisconsin is one of the worst places for African Americans to live.”
Jackson noted that Americans have a very difficult time talking about race, but that the beginning of the solution to racial disparities is
dialogue followed up by action. “What we have here is a set of very comprehensive recommendations,” Jackson said. “I just want to highlight
a few of the top ones for you this afternoon. The first one — the most important one — is a call to action of the leadership in Dane County to come
together and acknowledge that racial disparity exists, that it exists in our criminal justice system. I could probably assert that it exists in other
aspects of the community as well. But we’re here to talk today about the criminal justice system. Just in owning and acknowledging that the
racial disparity exists is a huge step forward. It’s an issue that we don’t like to talk about. The next step requires the leaders to commit to
reducing it. We need leaders in the community. We need government officials. We need community advocates. We need ‘Joe Blow’ citizens. We
need everyone to come to the table in order to bring a broad cross section of Dane County together to address this issue. It has got to be
addressed across the board. It is urgent. It is critical. And it is necessary for us to move these recommendations forward. Without the political
will, without collaboration and without a sense of solidarity, these recommendations just become issues for people to agree or not to agree on
and they become lost in the budget process. So I am really urging people to actually allow ourselves to go a little bit deeper when we talk about
these issues of racial disparity.”
Jackson then talked about some of the recommendations in the report. “Some of the top priorities that have been identified from the task
force include additional funding for diversion programs, increased funding for community-based organizations to prevent entry into the criminal
justice system or reentry into the system, the drivers’ license recovery program, establishing a restorative justice program that really
addresses the harm that has been created and actually works with people in a way of not being as punitive, but rather correcting the harm. We
also recommend supporting a universal inmate screening project so that people making decisions regarding individuals coming before them in
the system actually have more detailed information and not just information that is on a police report, bringing the Vera Institute here to actually
do an analysis on what’s happening in the prosecutor’s office here in Dane County to give them some assistance on how they can identify those
areas where the racial disparity exists. Also recommended is finding a grant writer to find additional monies, especially because we know the
budget is so strapped at this time here in Dane County, community support programs for returning offenders and the need for mental health
treatment, creating a community of opportunity by actually investing proactively in some of our neighborhood-based initiatives and doing
something called racial impact statements as certain policies are created to see how those things might impact a particular community,
increasing the number of people working in the criminal justice system and devising a community education program so that people have a
better understanding on the types of things that they need to know and really have a better understanding of their rights.”
County Executive Kathleen Falk recognized the importance of the report and the need to begin work on the recommendations immediately.
“I am committed to making changes that they recommend,” Falk said. “While budgets are tight, we already see the product of their work
because when the two chairs briefed me recently on what these recommendations would include, I know providing another point of entry for the
mentally ill that wouldn’t have police needing to deploy their valuable resources. Having a better solution to that is in my budget that goes to the
County Board tomorrow by creating a mental health crisis stabilization center. So I hope your work has already seen some results.”
Jerome Dillard, a task force member, is an ex-offender who has experienced the criminal justice system first hand. And what strikes him
as important is increasing the diversity of those who are employed in the criminal justice system. “When a person comes in contact with the
system, often times from arrest to conviction to incarceration all the way to coming out under the probation and parole system, very seldom do
they see anyone who looks like them or feel that they are being represented in this process,” Dillard said after the press conference. “I think that
would be a start in the turnaround with the disparities that we have in this county. We’re underrepresented in the DA’s office. We’re
underrepresented in the public defender’s office. How many judges of color are on the stand? How many bailiffs of color have you seen in the
courts? In my experience, it’s been Judge Martin who just recently retired. There are very few people of color who work in the county jail. We
need to look at that and incorporate individuals who look like the people going through the system.”
Linda Hoskins, a task force member and the president of the NAACP-Madison Branch feels that a change in attitudes is important. “This
system doesn’t give a person a second chance,” Hoskins said. “Once you get in the system, it’s hard to get out. The motto here is ‘You come
here on a vacation, you leave here on probation.’”
While the task force looked especially at the problems African Americans are experiencing, Pedro Albiter, a task force member,
emphasized that other people of color feel the impact too. “The Latino community is joining with African Americans to reduce these racial
disparities in the criminal justice system because as you know, it isn’t just Black and White. It’s also Latinos who are affected by disparities,”
Albiter said.
County Board Chair Scott McDonell admitted that the results are not going to happen overnight. “This is not a very good year for us to get a
report with lots of recommendations on how we can improve our system and spend money,” McDonell noted. “But this will be something that
we use year in and year out for the next decade. I’m grateful that we have a tool to begin to rid us of this black mark on our county. I look
forward to spending the next several years implementing this report.”
For many young African American men, the solutions will not come soon enough.
Task Force members Sr. Esther Heffernan (l-r), Ida Thomas,
Linda Ketcham, Co-Chair Laurie Mlatawou and Co-Chair
Celia Jackson (speaking), Dane Co. EOC Chair Yolanda
Springfield-Woodard and County Executive Kathleen Falk
Linda Ketcham, Co-Chair Laurie Mlatawou and Co-Chair
Celia Jackson (speaking), Dane Co. EOC Chair Yolanda
Springfield-Woodard and County Executive Kathleen Falk
