Wisconsin has an incarceration rate of 615 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Wisconsin and why.
35,000 people from Wisconsin are behind bars
Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Wisconsin is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 129,000 different people are booked into local jails in Wisconsin.
Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years
Today, Wisconsin’s incarceration rates stand out internationally
In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.
People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails
Wisconsin's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails
Reports and briefings about Wisconsin's criminal legal system:
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Prisons in Wisconsin have tablets, but they may be being used to restrict incarcerated people’s access to books and sap them of the little money they have.
The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 13% of people in Wisconsin prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
Wisconsin is one of 20 states that locks up some people convicted of sex offenses in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities, long after their sentences are over — and often indefinitely.
Wisconsin suspended its $7.50 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — It should eliminate them entirely.
Wisconsin prisons don’t have a clear indigence definition so it is unclear who has to pay for hygiene products and basics. Any money the DOC loans to someone for legal supplies must be paid back.
October 11-13, 2024: Prison Policy Initiative’s Advocacy Department (Sarah Staudt and Emmett Sanders) will be at the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People, and Families Movement (FICPFM) conference in Detroit, Michigan from Friday, October 11th to Sunday, October 13. If you’re going to be there, contact us if you’d like to meet up and talk about how Prison Policy Initiative might be able to support your state and local activism to change the criminal legal system!
Not near you? Invite us to your city, college or organization.