Still others began as metropolitan pre-release centers and are located in downtown Milwaukee. One center specializes in intensive drug and alcohol treatment for male offenders. Two of the centers are for women. Each is considered a minimum security facility. Inmates are generally housed in single or double rooms to which they have a key.
Inmates have free access to the building and grounds.
All inmates living in the centers are classified minimum custody according to a risk scale which takes into account factors such as crime, sentence structure, behavior in prison, assaultiveness, escape history, outstanding warrants or detainees, etc. The centers prepare the inmate for release and provide a transition from prison to supervision in the community. They give the inmate an opportunity to adjust to freedom and life in the outside world gradually and responsibly, a process which can be difficult and frightening for someone who has been incarcerated a long time. They must start making decisions for themselves again. Programming in WCCS is directed toward release and living in the community.