Soul searching on sentencing reform, Republicans won’t find much new in Wisconsin. Scott Walker continues to take a hardline with those living in prison. Most recently, the Republican governor announced plans to reduce the state’s parole system to just one employee.
The Walker plan invokes 1990s nostalgia, back when getting tough on crime meant locking up more criminals for longer. Now a leading voice in the GOP, Walker’s throwback could become mainstream as the party plots its course on criminal justice reform for the next four years.
Before President Trump’s rise, Walker stood out as the law and order candidate in the GOP primary. Asked by the Brennan Center for Justice to outline his plan to address America’s burgeoning incarceration problem, the governor instead expressed support for the victims of crime, who “deserve to have the peace of mind knowing how long [an offender] will be in prison.”
But how would Walker help prisoners get a second chance? With “the imposition of drug testing for employees,” to encourage released offenders stay clean and out of prison. There was no mention of helping non-violent, well-behaving prisoners receive treatment, get out of prison early and on with their lives.
The governor’s budget proposal for FY18 shows he’s not changing his mind. Since coming into office, Walker has been loath to offer pardons. And if his budget goes through, the state’s 3,000 long-term inmates will have just one employee to work with at the state’s parole system. “The default position is going to be that it’s too dangerous to release this person,” Democrat attorney Lester Pines told the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Long story short: A second chance will come to inmates slower.
That idea threatens to catch on at the federal level. While Trump has promised to take a bite out of crime, the new president hasn’t been clear about where he stands on criminal justice reform officially. But his new Attorney General Jeff Sessions has long been an opponent of reducing unnecessarily long federal prison sentences.
Others inside the party pull in a different direction. Before last year’s Republican National Convention, Governors Matthew Bevin of Kentucky, Nathan Deal of Georgia, and Marry Fallin of Oklahoma have called for criminal justice reform, including the reduction of overly strict sentencing laws. The southern governor has taken the lead in particular.
Deep red Georgia now boasts one of the most successful prison reforms. When Gov. Deal came into office in 2011, according to a Pew Research study, 1 of 13 Peach State residents were living in prison. Since then, the Republican has signed numerous reforms including one that extends parole eligibility. As a result, the state’s prison population has dropped steadily each year.
No doubt the Trump administration will evaluate the examples set by both Georgia and Wisconsin. Its decision will determine whether Republicans remain locked in their old tough on crime stance or chart a new path toward reform and reconciliation.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
