Journal Sentinel Column Examines Black Male Incarceration and Ways to Tackle the Problem

A column in Sunday’s Journal Sentinel provides a compelling description of the “mass incarceration” of African American males in Milwaukee County. If that term strikes you as hyperbole, I suspect you missed the alarming report issued a few weeks ago by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute, which included the following disturbing findings about black incarceration rates in Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole:

• Over half of African American men in their 30s in Milwaukee County had been or were currently in state prison.
• Wisconsin’s incarceration rate for black men is the highest in the country and nearly double the national average.
• Wisconsin incarcerates African American males at ten times the state’s rate for white men.

The column Sunday by the Institute’s director, John Pawasarat, explained the importance of tackling this often neglected problem:
      “…most of the recent state policy discussions about preparing the Wisconsin workforce and debates over redistribution of government job training dollars have largely ignored African-American men and relegated ex-offender populations to a minor (if not invisible) place in Wisconsin’s labor force. …The levels of black male incarceration represent a huge loss of labor force talent for the community and have devastating impacts on Milwaukee children and families.”

The column summarizes the report’s findings and offers a wide range of important policy recommendations for state and local officials.

You can find the full report here: “Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013.”

Jon Peacock