The leader of the state Assembly said Wednesday that Wisconsin will likely have to build another prison to help address overcrowding in the state’s correctional institutions.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a year-end interview with Wisconsin Public Radio that passing a set of bills to increase penalties for repeat criminal offenders is at the top of his priority list when lawmakers return to the Capitol next month.
The state Senate has already approved the bills.
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Vos said if someone commits another crime after they’ve been released from prison and are on court-ordered supervision, they should go back to prison, “without any questions asked.”
“But we know that’s not free, so we probably need to build a new prison,” Vos said. “So we have to generate consensus around how do we take a system that’s already 130 percent at capacity and make sure that we have additional room to guarantee that people who commit a crime are locked up as they should be.”
Democrats have pushed back on the bills increasing criminal penalties. They argue increasing penalties doesn’t deter criminal behavior, and comes with a hefty price tag for taxpayers.
Vos also weighed in Wednesday on a call from Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, to re-open and expand the state Department of Justice’s investigation into the now-shuttered Government Accountability Board.
The defunct agency has come under fire in recent weeks, after a DOJ report outlined what it called “systemic and pervasive mishandling” of evidence from a secret John Doe probe.
Vos said he thinks an expanded investigation into the GAB would help restore public trust in the state Ethics and Elections Commissions, which have some former GAB employees on staff.
“If the idea is to guarantee that the people who are involved in our elections are going to be impartial, I think that’s a worthwhile endeavor,” he said.
Vos added he doesn’t want the investigation to become a “witch hunt,” and wants it to be wrapped up quickly.
“I also want to make sure that we don’t have this process continue on ad infinitum,” he said. “If people are guilty, prosecute them. If they’re not, move on and let’s get focused on going forward and not just continuing to talk about the past.”
Vos said other priorities for the 2018 spring session include passing a set of bills aimed at improving the state’s foster care system.
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