Reading Time: 4 minutes

Gov. Tony Evers announced April 3 that he’s reviving the state’s commutation process, allowing Wisconsin prisoners to apply to have their sentences shortened for the first time in 25 years.

Immediately, the news began echoing through the states’ prisons. 

Some people caught it on the 4 o’clock TV news. Some got texts from excited family members and friends. 

With the news came questions. Who exactly will be eligible? How will the process work? How will people behind bars get the records they’ll need to apply, especially those who don’t have outside help?

Without access to the open internet, it’s notoriously hard to get reliable information in prison and even more so on a still-developing issue. 

Incarcerated people began calling and texting the people they trust on the outside, looking for answers. Several wrote to Wisconsin Watch reporters, sharing questions and reporting misinformation they’d heard.

Here at Wisconsin Watch, we’ll be following this developing issue in the coming weeks and months. 

As a starting point, we asked advocates for incarcerated people what potential candidates for commutations most need to know right now. They told us they’re still waiting for details, but they offered tips on how people can start preparing. 

Here are our sources:

  • Diego Rodriguez, coalition coordinator for Justice Forward Wisconsin.
  • Beverly Walker, executive director of the Integrity Center and administrator of the commutations committee at WISDOM, a statewide network of faith-based organizations.
  • Harm Venhuizen, government and public affairs specialist at the Wisconsin State Public Defenders.

How big a deal is this news?

The last Wisconsin governor to commute sentences was Tommy Thompson, who issued seven commutations during his 14 years in office. Gov. Evers has granted more than 2,000 pardons since taking office in 2019. Pardons restore some rights but do not shorten a person’s sentence. Currently, they are available only to Wisconsinities who have completed their sentence, including any required supervision. 

Walker, who leads WISDOM’s commutations committee and worked with the governor’s office for three years on reviving the commutations process, called last week’s announcement “life-changing.”

“People were excessively sentenced and they just deserve an opportunity to have freedom, if they’ve done the work, to have a chance to come home,” Walker said.

Rodriguez agrees. “This is huge news,” he said. “This is the time for people to celebrate because we can safely lessen our prison population in a way that can help promote community, promote family bonds.” 

Wisconsin’s prisons are over capacity. As of April 3, 23,554 people were behind bars, 32% more than the facilities were designed to hold. As Wisconsin Watch has reported, that crowding has combined with a shortage of correctional officers to create dangerous conditions. 

Meanwhile, politicians on both sides of the aisle want to close the 128-year-old Green Bay Correctional Institution. If it closes, officials will need somewhere to send its more than 1,100 prisoners. 

Rodriguez said the members of Justice Forward Wisconsin, who belong to various Wisconsin groups that advocate for current and formerly incarcerated people, are working to gather as much information as they can for incarcerated people and their loved ones. They’re looking for answers to the potential challenges that could keep people from applying, like if they can’t afford to send mail or make photocopies.

But overall, he said, “there’s a general level of excitement and hope.”

Venhuizen of the Wisconsin State Public Defenders said in an email that “establishing this board provides hope that people who have done all the hard work of rehabilitation won’t have to languish but can instead return to their families and communities.” The process offers a much-needed “second look” at convictions, he said, but it doesn’t address the reasons so many Wisconsinites are in prison. 

“Wisconsin’s epidemic of over-incarceration is complex and deeply entrenched,” he said. “On the individual level, it’s going to be life-changing for the people who will receive commutations. At the system level, this is a step in the right direction, but it’s not a cure-all.”

How can incarcerated individuals and their loved ones learn more?

What steps can incarcerated individuals take now if they’re interested in applying for a commutation?

“Start preparing now if you meet the initial eligibility criteria, as we expect this board to move quickly ahead of the gubernatorial election,” Venhuizen said. 

He recommends the following:

  • Review the application requirements listed on the governor’s commutations website and begin compiling the required documents.
  • Start making plans with the people you’d want to write letters of support for you. 
  • Write a “clear and compelling story of your growth and rehabilitation.” 
  • Draft a post-release plan that explains where you would live and work and what programs you would participate in.

For those who are incarcerated and want help with the process, Rodriguez recommends contacting Pro Say, an organization advocating for people on parole in Wisconsin, by messaging hello@weareprosay.org through the GTL app.

“I would say the biggest advice is to reach out to a group that is doing this work,” Rodriguez said. “This work gets so much easier when you’re involved in a community of other people that are doing it … And then keep asking questions until you get the answers that you need.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Natalie Yahr rejoined Wisconsin Watch in March 2025 as a statewide pathways to success reporter, working in partnership with Open Campus. Her coverage explores the skills residents need to build thriving careers and how leaders can forge pathways to family-supporting work. Natalie first joined Wisconsin Watch in 2018 as an intern. She returned after spending more than five years at the Cap Times, where she covered Madison’s local economy, focusing on challenges and opportunities for workers, entrepreneurs and job seekers. Her work has also been published by WWNO-FM, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, Scalawag, Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Times. Before becoming a full-time journalist, she trained as a Spanish-English interpreter and coached adult students working to earn their high school equivalency diplomas. Natalie majored in ethics and economics at University of California-Davis and holds a master’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison.

Brittany Carloni joined Wisconsin Watch as the state government and politics reporter in September 2025. She returned home to Wisconsin after more than eight years away from the Badger State. During that time, she reported on local government at the Naples Daily News in southwest Florida and covered local, state and federal government and politics at the Indianapolis Star. Brittany is originally from the Milwaukee area and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marquette University.