No
prisoners will be eligible for pardon under Tony Evers’ new pardon
advisory board guidelines. Governor Evers and Mandela Barnes made it
seem like the parole board would bring long-awaited relief to
incarcerated people. While revealing the order creating the board, they made statements and social media posts about Wisconsin's high incarceration rate and told the press “we
believe in forgiveness and the power of redemtion” which made headlines across the state.
Unfortunately, that forgiveness does not extend as far as it might
seem.
You
don’t have to look beyond the first page of Governors Evers’ newpardon application to see the betrayal. After a year of talking about
dramatically reducing prison population and then months of back and
forth between the governor’s transition team and the public; and
after hundreds of prisoners submitted their heart-rending stories about
indefinite delay of release, the new pardon application comes out
with these fateful words:
“Eligibility:
You
are eligible for a pardon only
if all
of
the following conditions apply to you:
1. You are seeking a pardon for a Wisconsin felony conviction.
2. You have completed your entire sentence at least five (5) years ago. This means you:
a. Completed all confinement; and
b. Completed supervised release (e.g., probation, parole, or extended supervision).”
website containing pardon application: https://evers.wi.gov/Pages/pardon-information.aspx
1. You are seeking a pardon for a Wisconsin felony conviction.
2. You have completed your entire sentence at least five (5) years ago. This means you:
a. Completed all confinement; and
b. Completed supervised release (e.g., probation, parole, or extended supervision).”
website containing pardon application: https://evers.wi.gov/Pages/pardon-information.aspx
NO
PRISONERS ARE ELLIGIBLE FOR PARDON.
So, who benefits here? Those who are past supervision (not “on
paper”) already can vote. The pardon does not expunge the record,
it does allow firearms but after five years out an ex prisoner gains
little benefit from the pardon. Prison population will certainly not
be reduced with this limitation.
