Yesterday, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the state ACLU, Disability Rights Wisconsin and two named inmate plaintiffs filed an original action in the state supreme court. The petition and its supporting appendix seek to compel the governor, corrections secretary, and parole board chair to exercise their powers to immediately decrease our state’s prison population to levels that would permit appropriate social distancing within the institutions. It requests that those whose age or health conditions make them especially vulnerable be given priority for temporary reprieve or parole.
The court has ordered the defendants to respond by this coming Friday, April 17 (though Justices A. W. Bradley and Dallet would have required a quicker response).
