Town hall addresses Milwaukee County Jail concerns, audit

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – With concerns for months about inmate conditions at the Milwaukee County Jail, a community town hall was held at the Turner Hall Ballroom to discuss the jail’s recent audit and explore solutions to the issues on Monday, March 24.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski organized the town hall. He said in just over a year, six people have died in custody at the jail. Two of those deaths were reported as suicides.

Members of the community were invited to share their experiences and collaborate on meaningful reforms to improve safety, accountability, and transparency. Some took the opportunity to demand action as soon as possible.

“We’re sitting here with all these concerns and people are still dying,” said Tiffany Stark, who identified herself as a community activist. “We need to figure that out like now. Like, yesterday.”

In October, an audit review of day-to-day operations at the Milwaukee County Jail found these significant issues within the county jail:

• Procedures for suicide watch
• Addressing inmates' mental health problems
• Staffing shortages and training shortcomings
• Overcrowding
• A lack of oversight and accountability

Bielinski explained how solving the issues happening at the jail will take some collaboration between the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, who runs the jail, and the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, who approves the budget for the jail.

“In the county, we’re kind of in a unique situation because we have a disconnect between who has the power to make change and who has the power of administering,” Bielinski said.

Bielinski said staffing shortages lead to overtime, and overtime has led to higher expenses, and that’s the cycle the two entities have been battling. Bielinski said in surveys of employees who have left the jail, they have not mentioned pay as their reason for leaving.

“There’s something else that has been causing us not to be able to keep quality, qualified candidates in a very difficult environment, which leads to some of the vacancies that we see in this audit.”

Bielinski was joined by Rep. Darrin Madison, Staff Attorney Anthony Garcia of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, and Coordinator of Pretrial Services Victoria Lupo of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Rep. Darrin Madison shared his efforts to try to support jails in the state Assembly as conditions at other buildings across the state also raise concern.

“These are the conditions these folks are living in, and we expect them to return to our communities? And thrive? That’s a fallacious dream,” Rep. Darrin Madison said.

You can read the full audit below: