Evers faces tough sell on prison reform with GOP lawmakers

By: Associated Press//November 12, 2018//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov.-elect Tony Evers has some big ideas about how to reform Wisconsin’s overcrowded prison system.

The question now is how he’ll pull them off and whether Republican legislators will let him.

Gov. Scott Walker never visited a prison during his eight years as governor. Evers, in contrast, has promised to tour the state’s Lincoln Hills juvenile prison his first week in office. He also wants to cut the prison population in half but hasn’t released a plan showing he intends to accomplish that goal.

Evers also supports stopping parole revocations when a crime hasn’t been committed, banning employees from asking for job applicants’ criminal histories, eliminating mandatory sentence minimums and banning solitary confinement.

But taking all those steps with a likely resistant Republican Legislature will be difficult.

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