Frederica Freyberg:
We take early release questions now to the person in charge of overseeing prisons in our state, Secretary of Corrections Rick Raemisch. Thanks for being here.

Rick Raemisch:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you say to Representative Suder, who says, quote, “this is a dangerous social experiment doomed to failure and it puts the public at risk”?

Rick Raemisch:
Well, frankly, I find that somewhat insulting. Neither the governor myself would place people in danger. What we're doing, it's — there's a long history of it working. All the data supports it, that it works, that it lowers the recidivism rate, that there is a reward system that's beneficial to the public and that people can change behind bars and we've seen that and we're seeing that now. That’s why these initiatives are important. Secondary bonus is the money it saves. A tremendous amount of taxpayers' money will be saved and saved in a safe manner.

Frederica Freyberg:
Who's eligible for early release?

Rick Raemisch:
Under the current program it's those that, one, have less than a year left on their sentence and fall in a nonviolent offense category.

Frederica Freyberg:
And how much time are some inmates shaving off their original sentence?

Rick Raemisch:
You know, originally, right now — and we've just started the program, but we're talking anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

Frederica Freyberg:
How can that be that big of a cost savings? 

Rick Raemisch:
Well, each year that an individual spends in prison costs the taxpayers $29,000 per year versus $3,000 a year on supervision. So each daily amount is a substantial amount of money. And of course we believe under these types of programs that these people we're not going to be seeing back in the system, so there's a tremendous savings.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, you suggest that people being released are nonviolent offenders although I read this week that one of those that was released this week had been sentenced for reckless homicide but got out because of a medical condition? What's the rationale there?

Rick Raemisch:
That's a different law that applies, but I am limited by law in what I can say about the condition, but I can say that the individual, other than that particular offense, which was serious, had no prior offenses and was attempting to leave a residence and was stopped from doing so and reacted and stabbed an individual. And this is the first offense the person had ever been involved in and now currently there is a medical condition that basically she's incapable of committing any further crimes.

Frederica Freyberg:
And so far you personally have looked at each one of these releases and approved them?

Rick Raemisch:
Yes.

Frederica Freyberg:
And Rep. Suder says that he knows of one, a five-time drunk driver and also a cocaine manufacturer. And he suggests that this just is not okay and the drunk driver in particular does not represent someone who is not a threat to the public.

Rick Raemisch:
Well, then maybe we should just lock them up forever and never let them out. That doesn't make any sense. The individual has been through treatment, was going to be released fairly soon anyway. We have contingencies on each person we do release. For instance, those with OWI offenses, they're on a high-risk supervision while they're out in the community and most often have technical instruments such as sobrietors that they have to be tested with on a daily basis. So they are being supervised. And, again, they do have and have gone through treatment and we believe they can be safely supervised in the community.

Frederica Freyberg:
Another matter that Rep. Suder talks about is the fact that bureaucrats as opposed to prosecutors or judges are making the decisions as to who gets out.

Rick Raemisch:
God, I guess I'm one of those bureaucrats, and this bureaucrat is a former four-time Dane County sheriff, former street cop, former undercover narcotics detective and a former Dane County district attorney. So I guess this particular bureaucrat I believe has the expertise to do that. And plus the Department of Corrections officials are experts in the field. Nobody spends more time with these inmates than us, not prosecutors, not judges. We have them with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We see their progress and we see their failures.

Frederica Freyberg:
He also cites the Illinois program and its being suspended by the governor because of its problems, including the fact that, I don't know, more than 50 of these people almost immediately violated parole once they were given early release. What about comparing Wisconsin's program to Illinois's?

Rick Raemisch:
You can't because they're completely different programs. In fact, when these initiatives were originated with the governor and with myself and the legislature, a lot of thought went into making sure that these individuals were very closely looked at prior to being released. Under the Illinois program, people were automatically given good time when they entered the system, regardless of their conduct, regardless of their behavior, regardless of their background and they were just, frankly, basically just let out and that's what's caused some problems for Illinois. That's not being done here. We have a very intensive screening system here before these individuals are let out.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Sec. Raemisch, thanks very much.

Rick Raemisch:
Thank you.