An April 1999 population of 18,666 is projected to exceed 25,000 by next year. We have well over 20,000 inmates, and we have an in-state capacity of 11,500,'' said Wisconsin lawmaker Scott Walker, who heads the state House Corrections Committee. Prison buses now transport Wisconsin inmates to five states - Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Oklahoma, West Virginia. Mississippi will be added this month, accepting 80 inmates each week at a new CCA prison in Tutwiler until its 1,100 beds are filled. While this practice has relieved pressure on Wisconsin's 10 public prisons, it has created a political chasm.
Prison is to punish, but it's also to try to rehabilitate.
There is no rehabilitation in shipping them out of state,'' said state Senate President Fred Risser of Milwaukee. They are moved away from any loved ones they might have. They are isolated. Jacqueline Strange, for example, faced a choice between her job in Milwaukee and seeing her husband 700 miles away in Whiteville. She quit her job, put her belongings in storage and moved to Jackson, Tenn., to be within an easy drive of Whiteville.