Locked Up on The Outside: Excessive Supervision
O ver 43 states have time limits on how long a person with a felony conviction can be put on parole, probation, or extended supervision, in- cluding some of Wisconsin’s neighboring states. Wisconsin has no restrictions on how long a person can be placed on supervision once re- leased from prison. The lack of regulation has led to excessive supervision sentences, resulting in many Wisconsinites being under supervision for longer than they served in penal institutions. The Department of Corrections Division of Community Corrections released its 2022 year- ly report showing that 51,018 Wisconsinites are under supervision. 51,018 Wisconsin residents are being disenfranchised and are constantly fearful of returning to prison due to violations of their conditions of release. The prison policy initiative found that “when people on supervi- sion are incarcerated, it’s usually for breaking a rule, not committing a new crime. EXPO’s initiative Locked Up on The Outside aims to bring awareness to the harmful effects of excessive supervision and push forward legisla- tion that will limit the amount of time someone with a felony conviction can be on supervision. The report below will detail our neighboring state’s laws that restrict supervision terms and highlights legislation Wisconsin can model. Minnesota The Minnesota state legislature will review House File 1607 during the 2023-2024 regular session. The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission in 2020 changed the maximum time a person could serve on probation to five
years except in cases of homicide and criminal sexual conduct. HF1607 will codify the actions of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission. It will also make these changes retroactive and allow Minnesota residents subjected to excessive proba- tion terms to be relieved of their sentences. Ac- cording to Rep. Jamie Long, who has sponsored HF1607, the average Minnesota probation term is longer than the average prison term, and these excessive terms can make it hard to keep a job, restrict civil rights, and are ineffective since most probation revocations happen in the first three years after being released. A five-year maximum will allow people to regain voting rights, hold steady employment, and be more effective at tar- geting revocation. Iowa Under Iowa’s code Chapter 907.7 Length of Pro- bation, probation should not exceed five years for felony offenses and two years for misdemeanor offenses. The term of parole in Iowa must equal the period of imprisonment but can not extend beyond this time. Therefore someone can spend less time on supervision than their time in pris- on. Iowa is one of Wisconsin’s peer states and has passed monumental criminal justice reform in re- cent years, which can be modeled in Wisconsin. Minnesota legislators, including Rep. Jamie Long, cited Iowa’s probation term limits in the proposal of HF1607. Illinois Illinois has restrictions on the amount of time a person with a felony conviction can serve on probation, depending on the class of the felony.
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