State Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk (R-Hubertus) and 39 other Republican legislators (33 from the Assembly and 6 from the Senate) sent a letter to Gov. Tony Evers Tuesday requesting that he suspend his new effort to process commutations (a reduction or a modification of a criminal sentence) out of concern over “serious consequences it is having on victims, law enforcement, families and public confidence in Wisconsin’s justice system.”
On April 3, Evers announced, under his executive authority to grant clemency (pardons, reprieves, and commutations), that he would make commutations available again in the state after 25 years since the last commutation had been issued.
A commutation doesn’t automatically mean a person in prison will be released. It could mean the incarcerated portion of the sentence is shortened, but the applicant still has prison time to complete, as well as fulfilling extended supervision.
On April 3, Evers issued two executive orders: Executive Order 287, creating the Governor’s Commutation Advisory Board and Executive Order 288, creating a Juvenile Life Sentence Process.
Juvenile commutation is only available to those who were 19 years of age or younger at the time of their conviction. The juvenile commutation is also restricted to those who were sentenced as adults and received a life sentence or at least 39 years of incarceration.
The eligibility requirements for the two commutation applications share five specific conditions:
- Applicants must currently be incarcerated in a correctional institution for a Wisconsin conviction with more than one year of the incarceration term remaining.
- They must have served at least half of their incarceration term or at least 20 years of a life sentence.
- They must not have any unresolved criminal charges or outstanding warrants in any jurisdiction.
- There cannot be any incidents of violent misconduct within the last five years of current incarceration.
- The commutation is not for any of the following offenses: sexual assault, physical abuse of a child, trafficking of a child, incest, and soliciting a child for prostitution.
Commutation applications have been offered online, and the first commutation hearings are expected to be held in June.
Soon after Evers announced he would be offering commutations, Republican legislators began expressing their opposition.
One of their criticisms is that by making the commutation process widely available, it is disruptive to the intent of truth-in-sentencing laws passed in the late 1990s, early 2000s, which require people convicted of serious crimes to serve the totality of a prison sentence, including years in incarceration and extended supervision, without the possibility of a parole board shortening that sentence.
“For decades, Wisconsin maintained a commonsense approach that respected the finality of sentencing decisions and the voices of victims,” Piwowarczyk wrote in a press release announcing the letter to Evers. “There can be no justification for commuting the sentences of convicted murderers who shattered families and communities. Any commutation process must exclude homicide offenders and ensure victims have a real voice before any action is taken.”
However, under the executive authority in the state constitution, a governor has broad power to offer commutations.
The Republicans’ letter highlights the case of Ted Oswald, who was convicted of murdering Waukesha Police Captain James Lutz.
The letter to Evers requests that no applicant who has murdered a law enforcement officer be given a commutation, and in Piwowarczyk’s press release, he broadens that request to remove “all homicide offenders from eligibility for commutation consideration.”
The letter also contends that families and victims are learning about applications for commutation via social media, rather than through a reliable victim notification process.
“We also ask you to strengthen victim notification requirements, ensure victims and their families have a voice in the process, and require full notification to district attorneys and sentencing judges whenever commutation applications are filed,” the letter states.
In Piwowarczyk’s press release, he specifically requests “creating a robust public notification system and online tracking log for commutation applicants,” and offering notification to victims at least 90 days out, and guaranteeing victims and families are heard at hearings.
On Gov. Evers’ commutation webpage, in answer to the question “Will the victim have a say in my application?” the reply is, “Yes, the perspectives and opinions of victims will be an important consideration for the Commutations Advisory Board.”
Commutation applicants are also required to notify circuit court and the district attorneys’ offices of their petitions for early release.
In his April 3 press release, Evers defended commutation as promoting “rehabilitation by providing a system that rewards the positive efforts of incarcerated individuals who demonstrate personal growth and a commitment to change with the possibility of a second chance to contribute to society, become productive members of their communities, make amends and improve their lives and those of the people around them.”
The Governor also said he was offering commutations to “build upon” his efforts to reform Wisconsin’s justice system in the absence of efforts by the Wisconsin Legislature to reform the state’s criminal justice system.
The Wisconsin prison population is at a historic high, exceeding 23,000. Evers promised at the beginning of his administration in 2019 to cut the incarcerated population in half, but the population has floated around 23,000 without significant change.
Criminal justice advocates have pressured Evers to use his executive authority to offer commutations to lower the prison population, especially for those who have been in prison for years and have matured and become responsible individuals capable of living in society
Left out of much of the criticism of Evers’ commutation plan is the fact that an application doesn’t guarantee success – it just offers, for those who are qualified, a chance to apply for a commutation. Applicants who are rejected will have to wait a year to apply again.
The Wisconsin Examiner reached out to the governor’s office for a response to the letter, but did not receive a response Wednesday.
