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It came from other
legislators. And so we're

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hoping for that to happen
going forward.

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>> State Senate President
Mary Felzkowski is a

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Republican member of the
Building Commission and,

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along with other
Republicans, voted with

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reservations to fund the
planning phase. We sat down

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with Senator Felzkowski at
the Capitol following the

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vote. Thanks so much for
doing this.

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>> So the $15 million that
the commission unanimously

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approved is meant to start
the planning process. And

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Governor Evers said, quote,
state to know we are

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serious about this project.
How serious are lawmakers

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taking this prison revamp
project?

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lawmakers have been very
serious about this since, I

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think it was 2018 when we
passed the closure of

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Lincoln Hills and moving
forward with the Sgaus. And

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if you look at it, we've
had numerous council

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studies around revamping
corrections. We've had

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legislators from the green
Bay area trying to close

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the green Bay Correctional
Institute for years and do

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other types of reforms. So
this has been a forefront

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for a lot of us for a lot
of years.

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>> But what concerns do you
have even ahead of this

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planning process?
corrections has been in

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disarray under many
governors. And Governor

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Evers when he first ran
against Governor Walker.

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What is that eight years
ago now? Ran on corrections

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reform and has done really
nothing. He's pushed for

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the closure of Lincoln
Hills, but we've all been

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working towards a closure
of Lincoln Hills, so that's

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not something special that
he's been doing. And now

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all of a sudden, in 2025
budgetary cycle, he comes

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out with a proposal and
he's kind of like shoving

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it down our throats. And he
didn't include anybody in

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this proposal, not his own
legislative Democrats. And

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he's kind of given us a
take it or leave it

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proposal. I don't I don't
think that's how this

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should work. Now he wants
$15 million to move forward

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with that plan. There was a
press release that

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doesn't even didn't even
seem like he remembered

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putting out two weeks ago.
That said, you have to

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release this money. Don't
hold it up.

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>> Whatever. You took
objection to that.

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>> How is that a bipartisan
move forward and under his

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proposal? Because right now
we have over 1100 medium

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security inmates that are
housed in a maximum

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security institutions. And
because of that, they're

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not receiving any
programing to help them.

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They're not where they need
to be. Under this proposal,

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he's releasing them into
society in order to move

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forward with the building
modifications that he wants

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to do. So you're going to
take 700 people that have

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had no programing and
release them under a

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program earned release that
normally they would go

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through programing, mental
health programing and other

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things and just release
them into society. How is

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that good for the safety of
constituents to release

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people out into society?
And if you look at some of

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the crimes that have been
committed by these people,

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it's not safe. It's not
well thought out. And the

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sad part about it, we don't
have to do that. We gave

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them alternatives yesterday
where we could expand

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Jackson. We could expand to
Chita, move people into

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those programs. Lincoln
Hills can be converted. We

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can take over 500 inmates
there. Close green Bay and

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expand on other areas. It's
just not what he's doing is

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not well thought out.
>> In the meantime, though,

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he said to you that you
have my promise. This is

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one step of many, and the
next step will include all

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legislators that want to be
involved. Are you confident

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in that promise?
>> I'm not going to use the

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term confident, cautiously
optimistic. Cautiously

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optimistic.
>> Is there danger of

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partisan politics kind of
derailing this whole effort

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to redo the correctional
system in Wisconsin?

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>> That's what's been
happening so far. I'm

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hoping that with the
governor's words yesterday,

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we get away from partisan
politics and move towards

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doing what's right for the
citizens for once.

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>> In terms of those 700
inmates and their release.

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Does does that skirt in
your mind toward kind of

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prison reform policy, or do
you think it's simply just

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to make the dominoes, as
they're called, work in

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this project?
>> There was things in the

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governor's proposal that I
think every one of us could

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have gotten behind, because
I think a lot some of his

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ideas were positive. That's
why I think it would have

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00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:03,570
been nice to include
this doesn't have to be a

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00:05:03,637 --> 00:05:07,007
Democrat or a Republican
idea. Prison reform across

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00:05:07,074 --> 00:05:09,510
the United States has been
very nonpartisan. We can

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00:05:09,576 --> 00:05:13,447
all work towards the same
ideas. But when you when

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00:05:13,514 --> 00:05:16,316
you give somebody a
proposal and say, take it

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00:05:16,383 --> 00:05:20,220
or leave it, here it is.
This is what we're moving

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00:05:20,287 --> 00:05:24,525
forward with. And
even a good proposal. How

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00:05:24,591 --> 00:05:27,794
do you think the other
sides are going to react?

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00:05:27,861 --> 00:05:29,997
>> Reiterate for me what
the prongs of a good

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00:05:30,063 --> 00:05:32,966
proposal would be in your
mind.

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00:05:33,534 --> 00:05:35,636
policy change where we need
to look at the programing

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00:05:35,702 --> 00:05:39,673
as it it's out there.
Former Assemblyman Mike

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00:05:39,740 --> 00:05:43,844
Schram had the idea around.
I'll use Waupan, for

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00:05:43,911 --> 00:05:46,647
example, of making that
into more of an academy

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00:05:46,713 --> 00:05:52,085
where medium and minimum
security inmates could get

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00:05:52,152 --> 00:05:54,421
programing education so
that when they are entry

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00:05:54,488 --> 00:05:58,258
into society, they are
ready to go and they're

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00:05:58,325 --> 00:06:01,562
educated and more into a
work environment so they

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00:06:01,628 --> 00:06:03,463
can become productive
members of society. One of

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00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:07,267
the things that we see
around prisoner reentry, if

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00:06:07,334 --> 00:06:11,238
they can have a home, have
a job, and become

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00:06:12,506 --> 00:06:15,776
productive, they are much
less likely to re-offend.

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They become productive.
Self esteem can take care

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00:06:19,446 --> 00:06:22,649
of their families. That's a
winning message in the

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00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:25,419
corrections reform. Those
are ideas that have worked

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00:06:25,485 --> 00:06:27,754
in other states. Those are
some ideas that could have

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00:06:27,821 --> 00:06:30,624
been brought to the table.
I hope we can count on the

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00:06:30,691 --> 00:06:34,161
governor being true to his
word, and that he brings

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all people together, and
that we can put a plan