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In-person visits at Community Reintegration Center
In-person visits at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center will resume this weekend.
MILWAUKEE - In-person visits at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center will resume this weekend.
The announcement from Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley reverses a years-long ban for the county's correctional facility. The county said it will help reduce recidivism, and improve outcomes for residents when released.
Hundreds of men and women are housed at the CRC on any given day. Some convicted of crimes, others waiting for their cases to go through the judicial system.
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In September, the average number of residents in the CRC was 974. Every one of them was prevented from having in-person visits with loved ones or their children.
Peggy West leads FREE, a women-led group that works to address incarceration and the experiences women face in the criminal justice system.
"I’m just really elated that he did this," West said. "It’s great. It’s been too long coming. When we think about public safety, we think a lot about policing and law enforcement; we don’t think a lot about the other side of that: incarceration rates and mental health of people who are incarcerated."
FREE executive director Peggy West
Multiple studies have found positive outcomes in those who had in-person visits, compared to those who did not, and their likelihood of reincarceration.
"We can continue working to reduce recidivism, improve post-release outcomes of incarcerated individuals, and help these residents become socially and economically successful," Crowley said of the Tuesday, Dec. 19 announcement.
Residents will be allowed one 30-minute visit per weekend with either up to two adults or one adult with two children per visit. Visits must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance.
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The county budget is also putting more money into technology that allows up to six-and-a-half hours of free calls and one hour of video each month.
The visitation policy only applies to the CRC and begins Saturday, Dec. 23.
In-person visits were stopped during former sheriff David Clarke’s tenure between 2009 and 2013.