LaRon McKinley, who spent 28 years in administrative confinement, says the state needs to return to rehabilitation and end long-term solitary confinement
Author Archives: Dee J. Hall / Wisconsin Watch
Dee J. Hall, a co-founder of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, joined the staff as managing editor in June 2015. She is responsible for the Center’s daily news operations. She worked at the Wisconsin State Journal for 24 years as an editor and reporter focusing on projects and investigations.
A 1982 graduate of Indiana University’s journalism school, Hall served reporting internships at the weekly Lake County Star in Crown Point, Ind., The Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune, The Louisville (Ky.) Times and The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. Prior to returning to her hometown of Madison in 1990, she was a reporter for eight years at The Arizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix, where she covered city government, schools and the environment. During her 35-year journalism career, Hall has won more than three dozen local, state and national awards for her work, including the 2001 State Journal investigation that uncovered a $4 million-a-year secret campaign machine operated by Wisconsin’s top legislative leaders.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Families, experts wary of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to abolish Parole Commission
Walker spokesman says Parole Commission change ‘streamlines’ the process for release; an inmate advocate calls the plan ‘cruel, inhumane and immoral’ for thousands awaiting parole.
Posted inGovernment
A Syrian family settles in Wisconsin, just before U.S. refugee pipeline closes
Some worry about President Trump’s immigration policies; local officials assure immigrants they will not be targeted.
Posted inCruel and Unusual?, Justice & Safety
Judge refuses to halt force feeding of inmate in solitary confinement protest
A judge has rejected a request by a Wisconsin inmate hunger striker to discontinue force feeding as the protest against long-term solitary confinement continues.
Posted inCruel and Unusual?, Justice & Safety
Wisconsin prison officials begin force feedings as solitary confinement protest continues
The state Department of Corrections is force feeding at least three inmates as a hunger strike aimed at ending a form of solitary confinement that can go on for years — even decades — continues for a third week.
Posted inCruel and Unusual?, Justice & Safety
Inmate hunger strike starts; aim is to end long-term isolation
About half a dozen Wisconsin prison inmates have begun refusing food as part of a protest against long-term isolation known as administrative confinement, backers of the protest said Monday.
Posted inCruel and Unusual?, Justice & Safety
A tale of two states: Wisconsin trails Colorado as both cut solitary confinement
Colorado’s decision to curtail the use of solitary confinement — which the state of Wisconsin has begun to do — offers lessons for the Badger State that its former prisons chief, Rick Raemisch, is uniquely positioned to offer.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Precious Lives
Focus on traumatic childhood helps victims heal and succeed
Wisconsin is part of a growing nationwide movement to adopt trauma-informed care, an approach that helps people identify and overcome negative childhood experiences. The approach is being used to improve mental health, provide social services and address a wide range of criminal justice problems.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Precious Lives
A day in trauma-informed court: Parents work to regain custody of their kids
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Mary Triggiano uses a trauma-informed approach when working with adult defendants and juvenile offenders.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Precious Lives
What is your ACE score?
Studies show that adults with high ACE (adverse childhood experience) scores are more likely to suffer from poor mental and physical health, unemployment and substance abuse problems. Find out your ACE score with this questionnaire.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Precious Lives
What role did trauma-informed care play in alleged juvenile prison abuse?
Critics charge that a trauma-informed care approach led to security breakdowns at Wisconsin’s two juvenile prisons; advocates say both facilities failed to fully implement the program
Posted inGovernment, Open records, Scott Walker's Wisconsin
Former cabinet members: Top Scott Walker aide ordered them to avoid state email, phones
Two former members of Gov. Scott Walker’s cabinet say the administration has had a policy of communicating official business through private channels. The allegations come as the Walker administration faces criticism for cutting public access to internal text messages and other so-called transitory state records.