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The cost of incarceration

Prison gerrymandering

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Wisconsin has an incarceration rate of 663 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 democracy 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

Also see these Wisconsin graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

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

The high cost of being incarcerated in Wisconsin

Prisons and jails in Wisconsin are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Wisconsin charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 90¢ for a 15-minute call.
• 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 and Access Corrections don’t report data on fees to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• 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.
• People in Wisconsin prisons earn as little as 9¢ an hour for their work.
• Wisconsin charges up to 10¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Prison-based gerrymandering in Wisconsin

• Ending prison gerrymandering in Wisconsin campaign and resource page
• One important action can help end local prison gerrymandering in Wisconsin
• Debate from Wisconsin: Prison-based gerrymandering's striking resemblance to the infamous three-fifths compromise
• Wisconsin sees dramatic prison-based gerrymandering in new state, county, city districts
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Wisconsin, by John Hejduk and Peter Wagner, March 2008

Our other articles about Wisconsin

• Wisconsin's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety
• 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 makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• 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 prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
• Wisconsin prisons release about 5,820 people every year
• Wisconsin hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records until they complete probation and parole sentences
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Wisconsin gets an F-
• Who's helping the 35,741 women released from Wisconsin correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Wisconsin in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Wisconsin jails and prisons

We gave Wisconsin a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• As of summer 2021, adult correctional facilities in Wisconsin are operating at 113% capacity.
• While other states suspended all co-pays in prisons during the pandemic, Wisconsin only suspended co-pays for people exhibiting COVID symptoms, discouraging people from seeking medical care.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)