Gov. Scott Walker says he sees 'no value' in visiting state prisons as he hits Democrats' promises to slash the number of inmates

Mary Spicuzza , Patrick Marley | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show Caption Hide Caption Governor Scott Walker sees "no value" visiting the Wisconsin prisons As governor, Scott Walker has not visited any of the correctional facilities he oversees.

Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he sees "no value" in visiting the Wisconsin prisons that he runs and that cost taxpayers more than $1 billion a year.

He made the comment at a news conference where he took a swipe at Democrats who have proposed cutting the prison population in half. Walker said such a cut would mean releasing about 4,000 violent offenders.

As governor, Walker has not visited any of the correctional facilities he oversees, even as the state's juvenile lockup became the subject of a long-running FBI probe into prisoner abuse and child neglect.

In 2016, he said he hadn't done so because visitors only see what those running the prisons want them to see. He said Tuesday he had no plans to visit any prisons.

"No, to me there's no value to me visiting," Walker said. "To me, there's people that we hire to run the corrections system and, certainly, we'll allow them to do their jobs."

Pandora Lobacz, a teacher who was beaten at a juvenile prison last year, said Walker's approach wasn't working because she believed he had not put good people in charge of the Department of Corrections. He would learn about understaffing and other problems if he would visit a prison, she said.

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“As a governor … you should have the — for lack of a better word — the balls to walk into these institutions and to be able to face these line staff and listen to what needs to be done," Lobacz said.

Lobacz has been asking to speak with Walker about prison problems since she was beaten by an inmate in October. He has declined to do so because of concerns about litigation.

"Anything he doesn’t want to deal with he ignores," Lobacz said.

Walker's focus Tuesday was on criticizing the Democrats seeking to challenge him over their support for cutting the population of about 23,500 adult inmates. Reducing the population by half would mean letting free about 4,000 violent offenders because two-thirds of the state's inmates are doing time for violent crimes, Walker said.

"When it comes to violent criminals in prison, I want to keep them in for their full terms," Walker said at the news conference at the Milwaukee Police Association headquarters. "Many of my opponents — many of the Democrats running for governor — want to let them out. And want to let them out early."

He called Democrats' prison proposals "dangerous."

Democrats have concentrated on releasing drug offenders, but Walker noted just one in 10 inmates are behind bars solely for a drug offense. He called it "a bit of a myth" that prisons are full of people incarcerated "merely for possession of marijuana."

He said the best way to reform the system, and ultimately reduce the prison population, is to provide job training and other programs to help people who have served their full sentences re-enter society and lead productive lives.

Democrats have said cutting the prison population would save taxpayer money and make the state more just.

“We have the highest African-American incarceration rate in the country," Democrat Mahlon Mitchell said. "If we don’t see it as a problem, then that in itself is another problem."

“I’m not commenting as a Democrat … I’m commenting as a black person living in (Wisconsin). It angers me and it frustrates me. … it should anger everyone.”

Mitchell is one of eight Democrats challenging Walker. An Aug. 14 primary will determine who faces Walker in November.

Walker's decision to avoid visiting prisons is unusual. Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle made stops at state prisons from time to time to help them understand how the facilities run, boost morale for rank-and-file workers and show the families of inmates they understand their struggles.

Mitchell and the others have called for broad prison reforms, with many of them championing cutting the inmate population in half. Former state Rep. Kelda Roys of Madison has gone the furthest by saying she would do so within four years.

In a statement, Roys said: "Scott Walker is lashing out in a desperate attempt to cover up his abysmal record on criminal justice."

Walker's administration is studying whether to build a new prison because the state is running out of room for inmates.

Walker hasn't said whether he would support building a new prison, which is estimated to cost $300 million to construct and millions of dollars more a year to operate. If the state runs out of prison space, it could also house inmates in private facilities in other states — an idea Democrats oppose.

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As a state lawmaker in the 1990s, Walker ardently backed moving Wisconsin inmates to private prisons in other states. At its peak, the state had 2,100 inmates in prisons run by the Corrections Corporation of America.

Walker was the lead author as a legislator of the state’s “truth-in-sentencing” law, which ended parole. Many of the Democrats challenging him now want to scale back that law.

The Democrats have called for reducing the prison population in a number of ways, including granting pardons and more paroles; releasing ill and aging inmates; expanding diversion programs, drug courts and other alternatives to incarceration; legalizing marijuana; and overhauling the truth-in-sentencing law so inmates have opportunities to get out early for good behavior.

Walker has never issued a pardon.

Walker's criticism of his opponents comes after he fell under scrutiny for widespread problems at the state's juvenile prison complex, Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls. The facilities have been under a criminal investigation for more than three years for allegations of prisoner abuse and child neglect.

Walker's administration in March agreed to pay $18.9 million to a former inmate who was severely brain damaged after guards failed to check on her and she hanged herself.

In a separate case, a federal judge last year found inmates' constitutional rights were likely being violated because of the heavy use of pepper spray and solitary confinement. Walker and lawmakers this year approved a plan to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake by 2021 and replace them with regional teen lockups.

In 2012, a Racine County judge sent Walker a letter warning him about problems at Lincoln Hills, but little was done at the time and Walker's aides didn't provide him a copy of the letter.

After his news conference, Walker posted a string of tweets and tried to keep the focus on the Democrats' correctional plans instead of his refusal to visit prisons.

"Democrats desperately want to talk about anything (visits, management, sentencing practices, etc.) but the fact that their plan will let thousands of violent criminals out of prison," he wrote.

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Democrats desperately want to talk about anything (visits, management, sentencing practices, etc.) but the fact that their plan will let thousands of violent criminals out of prison. — Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) August 7, 2018

Doug Curtis, who retired from Lincoln Hills School in 2016 after 20 years, said Walker is "speaking from a position of ignorance" by saying there would be no value in visiting a prison.

"He doesn’t know what’s going on in there and doesn’t care outside of the fact that it’s a black eye for him," he said.

Walker visits public schools because positive things happen there, Curtis said.

"Prisons — there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about prisons," he said.

“In an election year, he’s not going to draw anyone’s attention to his failures and this is a glaring failure.”

Molly Beck and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.