covid19 – ABOLISHmke

Close Wisconsin’s illegal youth prisons NOW!

Fireworks set off outside the prison in protest and solidarity with the youth, September 2021.

This article is the first in a three-part series.

The Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons (LH/CL) in Irma, WI have been illegally confining children since July 1, 2021. More than seventy percent of the kids are Black, and nearly half are from Milwaukee county. Starting in 2010, kids in these prisons successfully exposed horrific abuse practices by staff. By 2017, the kids and their advocates had drawn investigations from the media, the state, and federal agencies. They built so much momentum that the legislature passed and the governor signed Wisconsin act 185, which required that both prisons close by January 1, 2021.

Unfortunately, when that date approached, rather than closing the prisons, politicians passed a new law pushing closure back to July 1. The second deadline passed this summer, and the prisons were not closed. No new law extended the deadline. The state just continued operating illegally.

Which sends a pretty clear statement: Wisconsin politicians are willing to ignore and violate state law when it comes to abusing Black kids from Milwaukee.

Testify to Defund MPD Monday!

Milwaukee common council posing in their chambers.

audio version

Milwaukee Common Council is having their annual session for public testimony on the budget on Monday, October 4, at 6:30pm. This is the single opportunity the government creates specifically to get yelled at by residents about what budget priorities should be.

This year the hearing will be virtual, due to the pandemic. Register online now! Registration closes at 4:30 PM on Monday.

Ep. 20- Testify to Defund MPD Monday!

This is an audio version of “Testify to defund MPD Monday!” published at ABOLISHmke.com on October 2, 2021.

Music thanks to snag. snagmke.bandcamp.com

You have it in writing. (An open letter to Tony Evers)

Audio version

On Monday August 30, following a news conference on transit, some prison abolitionists confronted Wisconsin governor Tony Evers. Evers’ aides ushered him away and tried to defend the governor’s policies. Here is video of the encounter, and our response to his statements.

Governor Evers,

When we spoke last Monday, you ignored well-founded criticism and dodged public accountability on prison atrocities by telling me you wanted a statement in writing. You instructed that we send you some resources to verify what we are saying.

Well, here’s our response, in writing, per your request:

You are the governor of a state which is consistently at or near the top of the list for racial disparities in incarceration, for both Black and Indigenous people. Social scientists have described Wisconsin as the worst place for Black kids to grow up, the most racially segregated, and having extreme economic disparities for Black people. Your prison policies are driving those outcomes.

EP14- You have it in writing. (An open letter to Tony Evers)

This is an audio version of “You have it in writing. (An open letter to Tony Evers)” published at ABOLISHmke.com on September 6, 2021.

Music thanks to snag. snagmke.bandcamp.com

ABOLISHmke, news and analysis from a bad place. We write from an anti-authoritarian perspective on police, prisons, and more in the so-called state of Wisconsin.

We will publish anything sent to us that conforms to our editorial standards for authenticity, conflict, and rigor. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions: abolishmke [at] protonmail [dot] com.

Wisconsin’s Republican Death Cult

Senator Van Wanggard, apparently experiencing the throes of death cult rapture.

We need to talk about the Wisconsin Republican Party’s fascination with killing Black people.

On a national level, the way Republicans lined up behind Trump led to even conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin describing the party as a cult. When the pandemic spread and Trump led his people onto a path of denial and conspiracy theory, Rubin got more specific: calling the party a death cult.

Republicans in Wisconsin epitomize that death cult zeal–with a particular racial focus. From their reactions to the last year of pandemic and protest, to the upcoming budget process, the policy aims of the Republican Party consistently pursue the deaths of Black people. Their obsession most recently manifested in the state senate’s passage of Senate Bill 8, which explicitly denies covid19 vaccines to Wisconsin’s highest risk population: prison captives. Continue reading “Wisconsin’s Republican Death Cult”

Sarah Cooper’s COVID Spreader Shakedowns

Two weeks ago AbolishMKE broke a story about cell searches at the Racine prison (RCI) preceding new COVID cases and a quarantine. We sent the story to reporters (only Wisconsin Examiner seems to have picked it up) and asked readers to contact DOC officials demanding an end to cell searches, or “shakedowns.”

Sarah Cooper, head of the Division of Adult Institutions (DAI) responded instead with more and worse shakedowns. According to a message from someone held at RCI, staff pulled everyone out of their cells at 9:30pm on March 5 for a surprise shakedown. Captives were brought to the gym and forced to sit together on the bleachers “thigh to thigh” for two hours while guards went through the cell block touching everyone’s property. Continue reading “Sarah Cooper’s COVID Spreader Shakedowns”

Is Wisconsin Hiding Prisoner Deaths?

On March 19, 2020 a prison doctor brought the coronavirus pandemic into the Waupun prison (WCI). As we approach the one year anniversary of this event, we want to review how Wisconsin has handled COVID in prison. Unfortunately, thanks to opaque bureaucracy and the unaccountable prison system (DOC), it’s impossible to make an accurate assessment.

The DOC has a COVID19 dashboard, where they release stats about testing, outbreaks and deaths. However, when we look closely at the data released there and compare it to statewide numbers from the Department of Health Services (DHS) everything doesn’t add up. Continue reading “Is Wisconsin Hiding Prisoner Deaths?”

COVID Spreader Shakedown at Racine CI

Warden Paul Kemper standing outside his prison.

Staff at the prison in Racine (RCI) are forcing captives to congregate in the gym, and then going cell to cell spreading covid19 by tossing everyone’s property. They do not change gloves between cells, and at least one of the tossed units has gone on isolation quarantine.

Coronavirus is still present in Racine, and at RCI. The pandemic hasn’t magically stopped spreading via surfaces, so guards rifling through everything in an infected but asymptomatic person’s cell will carry virus particles to every cell they shake down subsequently. Read the details about the shakedowns in the message we got from someone held at RCI at the end of this post. Continue reading “COVID Spreader Shakedown at Racine CI”

New Years Eve Noise Demo Outside Oshkosh CI

Oshkosh CI has had over 1,000 positive COVID19 test results, this is the second highest in the DOC system.

Between March and November of 2020, ten people at OSCI died. The DOC has reported 23 deaths from COVID19 across the system, but more than that have very likely died of coronavirus while undiagnosed. There are 1,494 people currently held in OSCI risking their lives daily. Continue reading “New Years Eve Noise Demo Outside Oshkosh CI”