Racial Disparities in Wisconsin Incarceration (Hour 3)

Transcript

Racial Disparities in Wisconsin Incarceration (Hour 3)

Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Mon Apr 27, 2026

Announcer

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.

Newscaster

Across the state of Wisconsin, Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.

Jamie Martinson (host)

It's 806 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us.

If you're in Richland Center listening on WRCE or in Wisconsin Rapids listening on WFHR or in Hayward on WBZH.

We are certainly glad that you decided to join us this morning.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

Brian Noonan (host)

And I'm Brian Noonan looking for a rainy day in Madison and across the state.

Just what we need in some areas of Wisconsin, more rain.

Keeping up with the good news, why not?

Let's look at some headlines from Iran.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Argachi is in Russia ahead of a meeting with President

Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict with the U.S.

after the diplomats visited with key mediators in Pakistan and Oman over the weekend.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Speaking of Orochi, he gave a list of Iran's red lines to be conveyed to the U.S.

during the trip to Pakistan.

Iranian state media reporting this.

This red lines included nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz according to

outlets.

Brian Noonan (host)

Wow and those seem to be something that the administration is very willing to talk about.

Not over there though you got to call them on the phone because if you didn't hear Jared Kushner is not going over we're tired of the quote was we don't need to be on 15 hours on flights we're very busy.

You started a war two months ago that's why you're busy yeah you started a war so no but now now all

All Negotiations will take place via phone or probably as is the case with our administration on social media Which is not doesn't seem like how a run it goes to social media, but they go to mock with their Lego videos

Caller

Which

Brian Noonan (host)

I don't know if you've seen these man.

They are accurate

Caller

They are

Brian Noonan (host)

crazy and they come out fast.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know who's making them, but they're doing them fast anyway

Donald Trump said yesterday that he defended his decision to cancel his envoy's trips to Pakistan, saying Iranian authorities can call if they want to talk while reiterating that the war could come to an end very soon.

Why is nobody paying their phone bills so you

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don't get to talk

Brian Noonan (host)

to them?

You'll just say it's over because you still have naval blockades over there.

You still have carriers in the area.

It doesn't seem like there's any movement toward ending it.

And again,

I'm not a diplomacy expert, but telling them we're not coming.

doesn't seem very

Jamie Martinson (host)

diplomatic.

It's not really an olive branch that they're extending there, is it?

No, it's certainly not.

And you know, two weeks, that's what we've been told since this started eight weeks ago that we're only two weeks from this ending.

So I don't know what two weeks actually looks like in this administration's mind, but we're well beyond that.

Brian Noonan (host)

What does anything look like other than squiggles and stick drives?

Jamie Martinson (host)

And in other headlines out of Iran, Brent accrued the global oil benchmark is up 2.5% to nearly $108 a barrel.

That is the highest level that it's been so far in the past three weeks.

But

Brian Noonan (host)

according to the White House, gas prices are plummeting.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Well, they're not.

And I was seeing reports, they're not.

They're not.

Hold on.

Are you sure about that?

I was seeing reports over the weekend that in a lot of the Midwest, including Wisconsin, we're going to see some of our highest prices over the next few days, simply because of refineries, because of the season switch and all of the different things.

So if you do have to fill up, I would suggest, or even if you've got a half a tank and you're thinking you can ride it out this week, but you're worried about the price, maybe

Stop by

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your favorite

Jamie Martinson (host)

gas station today and just in case you know we see these prices in in the Midwest including Wisconsin skyrocket.

Brian Noonan (host)

My wife has begun every time we drive by a gas station and imagine you know you know how many gas stations on the street she reads out the price 449

What are we playing bingo?

Yes, I see them.

I know what I paid for gas

Caller

battleship.

Brian Noonan (host)

Yeah.

Okay.

What are you hoping that you'll

Caller

suddenly

Brian Noonan (host)

there'll be a 299 and I'll just

Pull a power you turn and pull in I I mean I would if you saw a 299 But it's not going to happen

Jamie Martinson (host)

at that point I think I'd go get extra gas Cans and fill those up if it was

Brian Noonan (host)

another car just to fill it up.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Oh my goodness I mean literally that's where we're at right now is people finding trying to use the gas buddy apps and everything they can to find the cheapest gas possible because of the prices right now

Brian Noonan (host)

Well, that's what's happening overseas, but there is always more stuff we need to know.

It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.

Time for some shit you need to know.

Jamie, you love talking about money in politics.

It

Announcer

is one of your,

Brian Noonan (host)

that and gerrymandering, two of your pet things.

So you must love this story.

DoorDash spent about $2 million on lobbying in Wisconsin more than any other group this session.

$2 million by DoorDash.

I don't have shade on DoorDash.

I've never used them.

I'm chastised daily by my daughter for not using DoorDash.

No, I don't use them.

But the goal

Caller

was to pass

Brian Noonan (host)

a

Jamie Martinson (host)

bill

Brian Noonan (host)

creating,

Jamie Martinson (host)

you use it

Brian Noonan (host)

all the time.

Jamie Martinson (host)

They probably

Brian Noonan (host)

wondered where you were all

Jamie Martinson (host)

last week.

I was DoorDashing stuff to the motel while we were in Florida.

I can't go without my apps.

It's fine.

Anyway,

Brian Noonan (host)

I guess not.

That's fine.

They wanted the bill was to create portable benefits like health care, paid leave and retirement tied to how much gig workers drive.

But the trade off workers would be officially classified as contractors, meaning no minimum wage protections, unemployment insurance or workman's or workers cop.

The governor voted to veto the bill.

He cited lack of bipartisan support and concerns about worker protections.

DoorDash logged nearly half of the 543 lobbying hours spent on the bill showing how aggressively one company pushed it.

The company argued gig work is meant to be flexible part-time income, not traditional full-time employment.

Lobbying overall is massive here in Wisconsin over almost 51,000 hours spent across 545 bills.

248 bills received zero lobbying attention, which is why we never hear of them.

and they you never darken your door.

Next biggest spenders including Wisconsin manufacturers in commerce and renewable energy group Wisconsin infrastructure investment now.

So one of the most lobbied issues wasn't widely known a transmission line.

transmission line tied to about $1.8 billion in energy projects showing how high stakes and behind the scenes of some lobbying efforts are.

Jamie Martinson (host)

You want to know why Wisconsin politics never stops and why we have so many conversations nationwide about Wisconsin politics?

51,000 hours of lobbying.

That's all you need to know.

That's how much you need to know about what's happening in Wisconsin and the amount of money that flows in to our politics.

is politics for Wisconsin.

It's really all you need to know.

The two million bucks from DoorDash and 51,000 hours of lobbying.

That's it.

It's all you need to know.

It's crazy.

Announcer

It is crazy.

Jamie Martinson (host)

This is why it's a pet peeve of mine.

And this is why I think that money in politics needs to stop because that's ridiculous.

And especially if there were 248 bills that received zero attention,

What were those bills?

Now I have questions.

Were they things that would have actually helped the constituents?

Don't

Brian Noonan (host)

look into it.

You just got back from vacation.

Don't look.

Because once you dive into that, all you're going to be is angry.

Jamie Martinson (host)

I guarantee it.

I know.

You're

Brian Noonan (host)

right.

Out of the 248, there's got to be at least a dozen that you go, this really would have helped people.

Caller

This

Brian Noonan (host)

is really important, but nobody threw money at it.

Jamie Martinson (host)

No.

Brian Noonan (host)

So we don't get to see it.

But DoorDash, whatever, making money.

If they can have the lobbyist here throw $2 million.

Wow.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Those numbers, that's all you need to know.

If you ever want to know why Wisconsin politics is all screwed up, those are the two numbers that you have to keep in mind.

In other news headlines of stuff you need to know, the owner of the Minakwa Brewing Company, Kirk Bangstead, is facing some backlash for a social media post that he made

through his company, suggesting that violence against Donald Trump following that shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was justified.

The post referenced marksmanship and promoted a free beer day tied to Trump's death.

Now, Bankstead has previously posted similar messages and sells merchandise referencing the president's death.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin condemned the post saying the rhetoric is completely unacceptable and should be retracted immediately.

Democratic leaders, including Mandela Barnes, who is a gubernatorial candidate, spoke out saying, quote, it's completely unacceptable, and I'm thankful for the actions of law enforcement who acted swiftly and bravely to keep everyone safe.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Missy Hughes, also put out a statement saying, quote, political violence has no place in our society.

She went on to say it must never be tolerated or embraced.

Now, Banksted has defended those comments in follow-up posts and even criticized Democrats who

denounced his remarks.

He is a political donor, he operates a PAC involved in Wisconsin political issues, increasing some scrutiny over those statements, and the incident obviously comes as Wisconsin heads into a very competitive next few months in this 2020 election cycle.

Brian Noonan (host)

I wonder if this Secret Service will be paying him a visit because I didn't, and I know broadcasters have a different

sure line that we have to stay under we're no calls to action no no inciting violence that kind of thing which makes sense but I thought if you made a threat against the president and I guess he would he would say he didn't make a direct threat he was just hoping that someone would be able to do something and offering a reward on a day that this may have happened but he will also argue that he didn't say

His free beer day is not is for the death a man can people die every day But I don't I don't buy it.

I think he's out of line.

I think it's reckless This is this is it's very reckless.

It's very just callous

Announcer

again.

I

Brian Noonan (host)

don't I Hold no good thoughts toward this administration, but I would never wish them assassinated I don't want harm to come to them.

I just want them to go away.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Yeah

Brian Noonan (host)

I just I don't want to hear from them anymore.

I don't want them ruining our lives this is I Don't and and this is another thing that you cannot defend as oh, it was a joke It was tongue-in-cheek.

It's bad form and listen if we're gonna call out the right for doing things

Announcer

like

Brian Noonan (host)

this we got to call out our own too and You can't you can't do it.

You just can't in this day and age.

There's too many

gullible people, we see it on both sides, and they will listen.

Jamie Martinson (host)

And I always go back to the whole thing, if you are a Democrat and you would be offended if somebody said this about Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, name your Democrat, right?

If you would be offended by that, why is it okay for us to say the same thing?

Right?

A Democrat to say the same thing I should say.

Why is that okay?

It's not okay because it's reckless.

It erodes the trust that we have going forward.

There's no civility in that.

And if you're going to condone political violence, I'm sorry.

There's no

Brian Noonan (host)

room.

You can fight very hard.

without resorting to promoting violence.

And by fight, I mean debate and campaign and get out there and argue policy and argue treatment of people.

Those are all things that you don't give up on.

You keep hammering at those issues, hammering, hammering, hammering.

But nothing, nothing good comes of making threats like that, getting into gullible people's heads to

that this is the answer.

Because let's be honest.

There's no, there's no chance that it's gonna be better.

God forbid, God forbid one of these, one of these was real.

And I know that's just me saying they're not real.

There's no, but I have a, you know, the opinion.

But do you think it's gonna be better for this country if that were an outcome?

It's not.

Jamie Martinson (host)

No, that tears us into, honestly, if something like that were to happen, it tears us into some sort of almost like a civil war, and we're not ready for that.

We're definitely not ready for that.

Brian Noonan (host)

I got to stockpile some more stuff.

Jamie Martinson (host)

John

Brian Noonan (host)

quickly says, of course, no one should promote violence, but do you think this criminal administration will leave peacefully?

I do not, but we'll see.

We'll see, I guess.

Wow, lot.

A lot going on in Wisconsin.

Announcer

Menards is in trouble.

We'll talk about it

Newscaster

on Daybreak.

Jamie Martinson (host)

It's 8.22 right now.

We hope that you are having a great start to your Monday, even for a Monday.

We wish you the best as we try to navigate another day, another work week, and another news cycle.

My name is Jamie Martinson.

Brian Noonan (host)

And I'm Brian Noonan.

Good morning.

You can jump in any time, 855-757-CIVIC-855-752-4842.

Monday, especially difficult after a vacation.

Announcer

Would you

Brian Noonan (host)

agree, Jamie, having come back from a vacation?

And Parker, we have been woefully.

negligent in not mentioning that there is a picture floating around on social media.

This was not leaked by anyone

Caller

in our

Brian Noonan (host)

organization.

It was posted to Facebook by Jamie's husband of Jamie in Minnie Mouse

Jamie Martinson (host)

ears at Epcot.

Brian Noonan (host)

Smiling

Jamie Martinson (host)

like she was actually enjoying herself.

I got Minnie Mouse ears.

It was the first thing we did.

We got to the gates of Epcot.

I'm like, find me

Caller

the gift shop.

I don't care if it's some cart.

I want Minnie ears.

Brian Noonan (host)

I'm going to have fun.

Caller

And I did get my Minnie ears.

It's

Brian Noonan (host)

fun.

Put these ears on me.

We're having fun.

Caller

I

Jamie Martinson (host)

had a blast with my Minnie ears.

Very

Brian Noonan (host)

nice.

Was there a Lindsey Graham spotting while you were there?

Jamie Martinson (host)

No, there was not.

I saw a bubble wand.

And for a brief second, I wanted to recreate the moment.

But we were in Epcot, not at the Magic Kingdom.

sure that it would be as impactful.

But I did find the pink bubble wand as well.

And I had a brief moment where I wanted to really just reenact the photo and be where Lindsey Graham wise.

Brian Noonan (host)

The many years made us think that, wow, Jamie may actually have taken like

20 minutes

Jamie Martinson (host)

to

Brian Noonan (host)

actually enjoy yourself, which was nice.

What do mini-ears go for now?

I'm just curious.

Jamie Martinson (host)

$42.

You

Brian Noonan (host)

gotta be kidding me.

No way.

Newscaster

That's crazy.

Jamie Martinson (host)

I thought they

Newscaster

were

Jamie Martinson (host)

giving

Newscaster

those

Brian Noonan (host)

in

Newscaster

dollars.

Jamie Martinson (host)

I

Newscaster

thought you got those when you walked

Jamie Martinson (host)

in.

No, no, 42.

No, they don't give them away.

$42 for the mini-ears, yes.

And I didn't even get the, and you can get the bedazzled ones, you can get the ones.

Brian Noonan (host)

Oh, the princess ones

Jamie Martinson (host)

in the whole deal.

Oh yeah, you can get the, they've got full leather mini-ears now.

And I just got the,

I just got the plain velvety ones, and those were $42.

I got the plain ones.

The starter earrings?

That's right.

That's what I

Brian Noonan (host)

got.

$42.

That's

Jamie Martinson (host)

right.

That's right.

That's why

Brian Noonan (host)

people start saving up for

Jamie Martinson (host)

a Disney World vacation.

Would you like to know how much the bubble wand that Lindsey Graham was using?

Oh, you know I do.

It was $15.99.

That's

Brian Noonan (host)

it.

Jamie Martinson (host)

for the bubblewatt,

Caller

yes.

Brian Noonan (host)

That's a better deal.

Caller

It is a better deal.

Maybe that's why he

Brian Noonan (host)

didn't have ears and the bubblewatt.

He was on a budget.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Somebody

Brian Noonan (host)

put about his congressional budget didn't allow for both.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Well, they were on a break at the time, and there was the intrusion of the shutdown at the moment, so maybe.

Brian Noonan (host)

Right, so maybe, well, listen, they get paid during the shutdown.

Jamie Martinson (host)

They

Brian Noonan (host)

don't care.

You know, us is getting paid, a truck driver at a Menard's Distribution Center.

because an Eau Claire County jury awarded him $5.5 million, placing 100% of the fault on Menards and its forklift operator.

Yeah, so this is considered one of the largest known forklift injury awards against Menards in Wisconsin.

Jamie Martinson (host)

This is actually a really big deal because this injured worker is a 46 year old truck driver.

He was struck in the head by metal pallets being moved by a forklift

Announcer

suffering a severe head

Jamie Martinson (host)

laceration that required emergency surgery and resulted in some permanent injuries.

Now this case centered on unsafe forklift practices involving a temporary worker who had not been properly trained.

certified or supervised before operating this equipment.

During the trial there was testimony and it revealed that the forklift operator violated

all of the known safety rules and multiple employees acknowledged all of

Announcer

those

Jamie Martinson (host)

failures.

Attorneys also presented evidence of prior similar incidents at Menards distribution centers, arguing the company failed to address ongoing safety risks.

Now, of course, as you can imagine, Brian, Menards has denied responsibility and attempted to shift

Announcer

the

Jamie Martinson (host)

blame to the temp agency and the injured worker, but the jury rejected those arguments entirely.

That

Brian Noonan (host)

doesn't surprise me either.

Jamie Martinson (host)

No, no.

And so good for this law firm, good for the jury for holding Menards accountable and for making sure that this truck driver was awarded what he deserved for, obviously, the injuries, the medical, the compensation for missing work.

I mean, it's all wrapped up into this particular lawsuit.

Brian Noonan (host)

Wow.

When I was in college, I worked on a loading dock and unloading and unloading trucks.

And part of the deal was you had to you were going as fast as you could.

And so I had no experience driving a forklift.

But that was what you had to do sometimes.

And it is it's not people think, oh, it's pretty simple, right?

I crashed into something and shattered.

So there was some glass thing in this box, I

destroyed it.

And, you know, because the guys who were trained on it, who had been long time old timers on the dock, they didn't have time to help some new kid who was just there for the summer.

And it is

You gotta know what you're doing if you're gonna be wheeling around in one of those things.

Jamie Martinson (host)

The fact that this had been an ongoing problem though with minards and they just basically, it sounds like refused to acknowledge the safety practices.

They're

Brian Noonan (host)

trying to save big money, Jamie.

Jamie Martinson (host)

They are.

They are.

And in this particular case, they did not save big money.

In fact, they're gonna shell out a whole lot of big money because yeah, when you're not properly training people, it obviously comes at a cost.

I

Brian Noonan (host)

can't imagine.

getting hit in the head with one of those metal force.

No,

Jamie Martinson (host)

I can't I can't even imagine the pain that that no,

Brian Noonan (host)

no,

Jamie Martinson (host)

no, I it's crazy.

Wow.

Brian Noonan (host)

Well, I'm glad.

And it's funny that that you I'm wondering if attorneys when they start making these arguments, they're looking at jury and go, I know this isn't going to fly with them.

These are working people in Eau Claire, right?

They're they're not going to believe that it was

the temp agency or the guy the victim's fault.

I know that I got to make that argument because I'm contractually obligated to defend my client to my the best of my abilities.

But we're going down.

Jamie Martinson (host)

But at a state in Wisconsin that relies so heavily on blue collar industrial type work, you gotta imagine that those arguments aren't gonna play well, especially from some dude in a suit who's basically representing a corporation that some of these people probably know family who works at or whatever it might be, especially in Eau Claire County.

Brian Noonan (host)

And they've seen YAH who's tried to drive forklifts and other machinery on, you know.

on their job sites too.

When we come back, racial disparity in Wisconsin are some of the highest in the nation.

We'll talk to folks from the Wisconsin Policy Forum who have released a new study about that.

I'm Brian Noonan.

This is Daybreak.

Jamie Martinson (host)

It's 829.

My name is Jamie Martenson.

Newscaster

This is the Civic Media Network.

Local voices and statewide impact.

It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

It is 835 right now.

You are listening to the Civic Media Network.

My name is Jamie Martenson.

Brian Noonan (host)

And good morning.

I'm Brian Noonan.

According to a recently released report from Wisconsin Policy Forum, a public policy think tank, the racial disparities in Wisconsin's prisons are some of the worst in the U.S.

Black Wisconsinites were 12 times more likely than white Wisconsinites to be locked up in state prisons in 2022.

Now that disparity was the second highest of any state in the nation behind only Vermont.

So joining us to share more about the results of the study are Joe Pietrangelo.

Wisconsin Policy Forms Research Director and Andy Tisdall.

He's a co-author of the report.

Gentlemen, thank you for being with us this morning.

Welcome.

Joe, let's start with you.

What were some of the key questions that you hoped would be answered by the study?

Joe Pietrangelo

Well, so the study really looked at the criminal justice system in the state from

beginning to end.

So from arrest, we looked at arrest data and victim data, we looked at court data, corrections, and even we looked at the spending and staffing of the state criminal justice system.

We're really hoping to understand just get a broad understanding of the whole system, what some of the biggest challenges are, what some of the

the striking trends are within the system, including looking at demographics of the population throughout the system and how Wisconsin compares with other states.

Jamie Martinson (host)

One of the things that I found most fascinating as I was going through the report was that it highlights Wisconsin as a highly segregated state.

And so I want to dive into a little bit about that as well.

But how does that essentially, that sort of segregation that we're seeing, how does that shape outcomes in our justice

Joe Pietrangelo

system?

Go ahead.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Go ahead, Andy.

Go

Joe Pietrangelo

ahead.

No, my connection is really not good.

I think I might.

Andy Tisdell

Oh, dear.

Well, we know that poverty is a risk factor for criminal justice involvement.

A national study conducted by the Brookings Institute, they found that people born into the bottom 10% of the income distribution had a much higher rate of incarceration than people born to the top.

And we also know that in Wisconsin, there are disparities in things like the unemployment rate by race.

So you have these areas where where poverty is very high and these areas are also often segregated.

And so that can help influence the criminal justice outcomes of individuals.

Brian Noonan (host)

And as we look at Wisconsin, is our

where does our incarceration rate fall compared to the rest of the country and then extrapolating from that the rate for black wisconsinites

Andy Tisdell

well the rate for black wisconsinites compared to the rest of the country as you said uh we have i think it's us in vermont that that have the highest disparity between those two uh as far as overall incarceration rates

ours is a little lower compared to some of the southern states where their disparities are a bit lower because there's the higher incarceration rates for whites as well.

But our ratio is quite high as we found.

Jamie Martinson (host)

We're talking with Joe Pietrangelo.

He's the research director at Wisconsin Policy Forum and Andy Tisdale, who is a researcher also at Wisconsin Policy Forum, WisconsinPolicyForum.org.

So when we're talking about the economic factors like poverty, unemployment, and income inequality, how much of that is tying back to, according to your research, what we're finding for the incarceration rates, especially amongst the black pop

of the state.

Joe Pietrangelo

So our study didn't really try to get into the causation or even the correlation with different factors.

What we're really showing is the differences between populations, between geographies.

In terms of some of the factors Andy already mentioned, we do discuss how there are

big income disparities by race in Wisconsin and about two-thirds of the state's black population lives just in the city of Milwaukee.

And there are major income disparities in the city, but we don't try to figure out all of the factors and how much they contribute to each trend we're seeing.

Brian Noonan (host)

There was one thing that you not tried to figure out the causation, but you were able to find

that some of the disparities were tied to where law enforcement focused more different communities, the policing styles in different communities, correct?

Joe Pietrangelo

We raised that as a possible factor, but again, we didn't try to measure it.

And it's really difficult to determine how much of criminal justice activity is

captured by the system throughout and how much is not.

But it can be a factor that if there is heavier policing in certain areas, there could be more arrests happening in those areas and then that continues through the system.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Now, this report also showed that crime and victimization are concentrated, as you have mentioned, in these certain areas.

How is that, did you find anything about how that's impacting communities in the long term?

Joe Pietrangelo

Again, that's sort of beyond the scope of this study.

You know, this was a really end up study that really tried to

you know, break down all the data across the system, but we didn't really, you know, get to the level that you're talking about.

Now, this study took us about a year to do, and we are planning to do follow-up research in a number of areas.

So this is just kind of a baseline for us as we go forward.

Brian Noonan (host)

Joe Pietrangelo and Andy Tisdell are our guests.

Joe is the Wisconsin Policy Forum's Research Director.

Andy is co-author of the report.

You can check it all out at wispolicyforum.org.

Andy, were there any notable trends that popped out of this as far as incarceration in Wisconsin?

Andy Tisdell

One of the major trends that we observed was a rise in incarceration rates for older adults, both people age 60 and over and also saw a rise in the age 50 and over.

Yes, and that's, we found that that's both people aging in place, people who have long sentences were just getting older inside prison, but also there were increased admissions for older adults.

The incarceration rate for adults 60 and over doubled.

between 2010 and the present day, and the arrest rate also increased.

We saw growth in people whose most serious offense was violent crime, whose most serious offense was operating well intoxicated, and other public order offenses as well.

So that's what we observed for the growth of that population.

Brian Noonan (host)

Besides the older adults and Black Wisconsinites, are there other groups that you're starting to see trends that

This ethnic group is being incarcerated more than they had been before or less than they had been before.

Andy Tisdell

Yes.

We saw that the incarceration rate for American Indian and Alaska Native individuals had gone up significantly.

I wish I could recite the number offhand.

I don't have it.

Nope, I do.

Admissions for American Indian individuals grew from 6.8 per 1,000 to 11.6.

So not quite doubled over the last quarter century.

Joe Pietrangelo

And so that was the most, the population with the highest admissions rate in the most recent several years was the American Indian population.

So it's now exceeded the admissions rate for the black population in the state.

So we have actually seen a decrease in admissions.

of black Wisconsinites.

So despite having some of the biggest racial disparities in the country in terms of the black versus white incarceration rates, we have seen a bit of an improvement over time in black incarceration rates and admissions to prison for both black and Hispanic population.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Are there examples from other states that Wisconsin could realistically follow if they wanted to reduce the number of incarcerations for, say, the black population or even the indigenous population?

Joe Pietrangelo

Again, that's a little bit beyond the scope

Jamie Martinson (host)

of

Joe Pietrangelo

this particular study.

We are doing some follow-up research, like I mentioned, on specific issues.

We're planning to publish a report in later this spring or early summer on the drunk driving issue where we're looking really closely at how that issue is affecting different populations in the state, how Wisconsin's laws compare to other states.

So in that way, we'll bring in insight from across the country, potentially on what we might do differently.

And we can continue to do that with other follow-up research.

Brian Noonan (host)

Part of the conclusions that you reached at the end of this study was that the racial disparities are just one of the clear trends in the justice system here in Wisconsin.

What are some of those other trends that kind of go along with this or maybe are happening, but they're not directly related to the racial disparities?

Joe Pietrangelo

So the aging

trend that Andy discussed was one of the biggest findings as well.

Just more older adults entering the system and being in the system.

We also have observed that health care costs for the correction system have gone up quite a bit.

They've tripled since 2005.

It was the biggest portion of the budget increase for the corrections department.

And so when combined with this rising aging population and higher healthcare costs to care for those older adults, that's a concern.

You know, we're spending more than a lot of other states are on corrections.

Healthcare is part of the driving force behind that.

And we're also incarcerating, we're over incarcerating in terms of

the size of the prison population is much higher than what the prisons were built for.

Jamie Martinson (host)

As you were going through your year-long study and you were researching, was there anything that you came across that surprised, and either of you can answer this or both of you, was there anything that was very surprising or striking to you that you did not expect to find as you were going through your research?

Andy Tisdell

Andy, do you want to start?

Sure.

Well, one thing that surprised me was in terms of the total cost of Wisconsin's correctional system, we ranked 12th among the states.

And we were the second, we had the second highest corrections cost of any Midwestern state behind only Nebraska.

In addition, we found a study that said that we had the highest cost for re-incarcerating people who were returning to prison.

I was not expecting either of those facts, and I'd like to dive into them more in a future report.

Brian Noonan (host)

One of the things that the... Sorry, Joe.

Joe, you can answer this one.

The study you said took a year.

During that time, what changes in the prison system did you see, if any, during the year that you were studying this?

Joe Pietrangelo

Well, one thing that just happened is that on the youth justice side, Milwaukee County, a new youth facility was just opened for youth in Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County, about half of the youth that have been sent to Lincoln Hills in northern Wisconsin and Copper Lake are

youth from Milwaukee County.

And that's been a consistent trend.

And now, you know, there's more of an effort to have youths closer to home, including in Milwaukee County.

So that was one thing that happened with that facility opening.

Another thing is we've, this is a little bit before the year, but there's been an increase in wages for correctional officers, which was

in response to major vacancies in the state prisons.

And so that's another pressure point for the cost of the system.

Brian Noonan (host)

Well, Joe Pietrangelo and Andy Tisdell from Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Thank you very much.

If you want to read more of the study, go to wispolicyforum.org.

Gentlemen, thanks.

We'll be back with

Announcer

you.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Newscaster

Lake Superior to Lake Michigan.

This is Wisconsin's Morning Conversation,

Jamie Martinson (host)

a

Newscaster

break with Brian and Jamie.

Jamie Martinson (host)

It's 8.52 right now.

We hope you are having a great start to your Monday, a little rain around most of the state today.

Hopefully you keep yourself dry.

Keep your umbrella handy kind of thing.

We'll give you all of those hands.

Usually right now it's dry out.

It's just a little cloudy.

It looks like it could rain, but it hasn't yet.

See,

Brian Noonan (host)

that's why people are lucky you're back, Jeremy, because you will give them nice mothering advice.

If you weren't here the three of us would go, yeah, it's going to rain.

Good luck with that.

Because I always figure, unless I'm talking to children.

Then I will tell you, oh, you gotta bring your coat today.

It's gonna be rainy.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know, I ran into all

Brian Noonan (host)

this.

But with adults, I listen.

If it's raining out and you don't know, then you're

Jamie Martinson (host)

no better than a turkey.

I ran into a lot of people in the airport this week who were adults, actual adults who need that type of advice on a daily basis.

The

Brian Noonan (host)

public needs guidance, but I don't feel it's my place

Jamie Martinson (host)

to get it.

You learn a lot.

watching, sitting and waiting for things, and watching other human beings try to interact in this world.

It makes me actually feel better about myself.

Sure.

Brian Noonan (host)

Well, if you were in there watching that, the sea of humanity

Jamie Martinson (host)

at an

Brian Noonan (host)

airport, and you felt worse about yourself, it's time for some

Caller

serious therapy.

It is reevaluation

Brian Noonan (host)

time.

8-5-5-7-5-CIVIC.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Now, if it involves an animal, that will be better, because did you put this story in or

Caller

did Frank put

Brian Noonan (host)

this?

Alright, first of all, who knows?

Second of all, where did you find it?

Because this is insane.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Oh, I was doing just some search and going through some of some of my old prep services and it gave me a headline and I was like, oh, this is a thing.

I need to go look this up.

So I did a little research and here we are talking about killer hippos, apparently.

Brian Noonan (host)

All right.

Yeah.

What's the deal?

Jamie Martinson (host)

So what's

Brian Noonan (host)

the deal with hungry?

Jamie Martinson (host)

Well, around.

14 years ago because 14 years ago Hasbro, you know the maker of toys and games and

Caller

all of

Jamie Martinson (host)

that Announced that it was developing a movie based on the game hungry hungry hippos a hippos So it actually started to happen and now we are getting this a horror movie about a killer hippo And it is called hungry the tagline even says this hippo isn't playing games and while it sounds like some sort of throwaway garbage meant to capitalize

on some sort of existing product, probably.

But this movie looks like it could be good if you like horror movies.

And I did, in fact, watch the two minute trailer to see.

And I'm not a horror movie fan.

Announcer

So I

Jamie Martinson (host)

had to check out the trailer though.

My former Morning Show co-host always told me that hippos were nature's killing machine.

Brian Noonan (host)

They

Jamie Martinson (host)

are.

Brian Noonan (host)

Hippos are one of the most dangerous animals on the planet.

Jamie Martinson (host)

And I told him he never had to worry about that at Devil's Lake, and that he was fine at Devil's Lake.

Is he?

Well, he's in Minnesota now, so he never got

Caller

to

Jamie Martinson (host)

experience that.

But Hungry the Movie is coming.

It is going to be on demand, and it's going to hit digital platforms on June 23rd.

Brian Noonan (host)

This is one that I would watch just out of sheer curiosity.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Right.

Brian Noonan (host)

but it's it can't be they'd be dumb to try to the game is not scary

SPEAKER_02

the game is

Brian Noonan (host)

hilariously fun hungry hungry

SPEAKER_02

hungry hungry yes

Brian Noonan (host)

so but this is it does it's in the vein of jaws

It's

SPEAKER_02

in the

Brian Noonan (host)

vein of Kujo when animals attack.

A good animal attack movie because it makes you look at your pets differently.

It makes you very skeptical.

When yesterday I was cutting the grass, a cat shout out from bushes and went under my shed.

I'm like, what's going on with you?

Maybe that cat is plotting my demise.

I don't know.

Kitty killer.

That's what, that's what I'm making a short film

Jamie Martinson (host)

partner in my

Brian Noonan (host)

backyard.

Newscaster

I don't want you to be a part of that

Jamie Martinson (host)

movie.

Put some sort of GoPro on the cat and you got yours.

And I'm pretty sure that cats want all humans dead anyway.

Well

Brian Noonan (host)

yet, last week when you were in here, Jamie, we talked about this guy in Wisconsin who had been stalked by a bobcat while he was

Jamie Martinson (host)

turkey hunting an attack.

I saw that story.

That was insane.

See?

So bobcat.

Bob.

Brian Noonan (host)

That would be the movie, the title.

I saw the trailer too and that, man, that hippo looked angry.

Jamie Martinson (host)

The hippo looks mean.

I don't know what

Brian Noonan (host)

makes a hippo so angry

Jamie Martinson (host)

that it turns

Brian Noonan (host)

on humanity, but...

Jamie Martinson (host)

This film, in case you're wondering, it's going to center on a group of holiday goers who must fight for their lives against this rampaging hippo on the loose after becoming lost in the Louisiana Swamplands.

Nice.

Now, there is an interesting line in the trailer that totally contradicts...

the movie's title and the marketing.

In fact, I found this super ironic.

A guy says, quote, hippos are vegetarian.

He ain't killing you to eat you.

He's killing you for fun.

So not only is he not hungry, but it appears that he is playing games.

So take it for what it's worth, but it does look like if you like horror movies, a whole lot of fun.

Brian Noonan (host)

A homicidal hippo, a thrill killer.

Just going out there on a rampage.

I want to know, well now there's so many questions, I have to watch the movie.

How did a hippo get abandoned in the Louisiana swamps?

And what are these people doing?

This is you could tell it was overseas because nobody

Jamie Martinson (host)

in

Brian Noonan (host)

America goes on holiday.

Jamie Martinson (host)

No, they don't go on holiday.

What I also loved about the trailer, so this is no surprise because this is part of the trailer and I'm not I'm not doing some sort of

Caller

spoiler

Jamie Martinson (host)

alert.

Caller

They

Jamie Martinson (host)

go on some sort of airboat ride in Louisiana Bayou and all of

Caller

the

Jamie Martinson (host)

alligators are dead and mangled and they can't figure out why.

And it turns out that it's because of the because of the hippo who is obviously hungry.

Brian Noonan (host)

And it's just one hippo

Jamie Martinson (host)

doing all this damage.

It's one hippo.

One hippo.

Yeah, that's it.

One hippo in this.

It's not like a thing.

I'm going to see how they

Brian Noonan (host)

stretch this into 80 to 90 minutes, because

Jamie Martinson (host)

I'm thinking

Brian Noonan (host)

one hippo versus one high powered rifle.

Jamie Martinson (host)

Rifle wins.

Oh, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

They're big.

That's just it, though, too.

They're on a tour in an airboat, so nobody's equipped to deal with the hippo.

Who's hungry

Brian Noonan (host)

now?

I know hippos are fast on land.

I wonder how fast they are in the water chasing an airport

SPEAKER_02

Swim like 80 90 miles per hour or something.

There's no

Brian Noonan (host)

chance a hippo can swim

I'm looking

SPEAKER_02

it up.

I'm looking it up.

Can you

Brian Noonan (host)

check this in our last 30

Announcer

seconds?

We gotta, yeah, we gotta

Brian Noonan (host)

look at this.

Can you chip?

How

Jamie Martinson (host)

fast do hippos swim?

I can, I can.

They can swim up to 10 miles per hour.

Okay, so that's a lot less than 90, Jim.

It is,

Brian Noonan (host)

it is.

That is exponentially less than

Jamie Martinson (host)

90.

This is why I fact-checked myself.

Come on now.

Well,

Brian Noonan (host)

Jamie's back.

She's making wild hippo accusations.

But we'll be back tomorrow with more.

This has been Daybreak.

I'm Brian Noonan.

Thanks for listening.

Caller

I'm Jamie Barton.

It's 8.59 right now.

You're listening to the...

The

Announcer

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