At a news conference on Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker said he sees “no value” in visiting prisons in Wisconsin. The comments came in response to Democratic candidates proposing to cut Wisconsin’s prison population of 23,500 in half. According to Gov. Walker, doing that would mean releasing 4,000 violent offenders.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Gov. Walker hasn’t visited a prison during his tenure as Governor because he felt that “visitors only see what those running the prisons want them to see.” Walker instead believes that the solution to reducing the prison population is to provide job training and other programs for inmates so that they can lead productive lives when their sentence is up. Democrats’ plan to reduce the prison population includes releasing ill and aging inmates, legalizing marijuana, and releasing inmates early for good behavior.
Do you agree with Gov. Walker that there is “no value” to visiting state prisons? How should Wisconsin go about reducing the prison population? Let us know in the comments below.
