Correctional officers from around the state gathered in Madison on Thursday for a hearing by the Committee on Corrections and Courts that focused on the officers' support of Assembly Bill 92.
The bill, which seeks to address the increasing problem of rioting in Wisconsin state prisons, has prompted mixed reactions in the Legislature.
The focus of AB-92 is strictly on riots taking place inside state prisons and would institute a mandatory minimum sentence of three years for anyone who starts a riot or who commits battery in a riot.
State Rep. Joseph Parisi, D-Madison, sees several fundamental flaws with the bill, such as a lack of legislation dealing with the root cause of the problem.
""The people testifying said that the root cause of the problems they're trying to address is overcrowding,"" said Parisi. ""One of the root causes of overcrowding is mandatory minimums, so in essence, what they want to do is impose mandatory minimums on a problem caused by mandatory minimums.""
Prisoners with mental health problems are one of the concerns that Parisi would like to see addressed.
""We have people with mental health issues and then we have mandatory minimums that take away the ability of judges to assign a sentence that they think is fitting, which may be less than the mandatory minimums,"" Parisi said.
Still, there has been support for the bill from committee chair state Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, who will have the final say in whether or not the bill gets a vote.
""I listened to the testimony of the correctional officers,"" Bies said. ""They feel [the bill] will add a deterrent to people who may get out of prison in the near future and, rather than participate in riot, will not because of the three year sentence extension.""
The main goal of the bill is to assure both officers and inmates a certain level of safety, although Bies admits that it still needs ""a little work"" to make it an effective piece of legislation.
