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Wisconsin Lawmakers Approve Bill Loosening Limits on Possessions Wisconsin Inmates Can Have

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024 -- 8:07 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) A bill approved by Wisconsin lawmakers would loosen limits on the possessions Wisconsin inmates can have. 

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, right now, Department of Corrections rules say Wisconsin inmates can’t keep most types of personal property in prison if one of those items is worth more than $75.

Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, says he authored legislation to change that after hearing from a mother in late 2018 who sent a Bible that cost more than $100 to her incarcerated son.

The Department of Corrections wouldn’t let him keep it, because its cost exceeded the policy limit, according to testimony submitted to lawmakers. Tittl said Wisconsin’s limit on personal property hasn’t kept up with rising costs.

“This is not about one person or about a Bible or anything like that,” Tittl said on the Assembly floor, adding that the department has since refunded the mother for the cost of the book. “It is about having our prisoners able to have something of personal value in there with them.”

The recently-approved bill would raise the limit on most types of personal property from $75 to $150. It now heads to the governor’s desk, after being passed by the Senate in March and by the Assembly last week.

Two Assembly Democrats, Ryan Clancy and Darrin Madison of Milwaukee, voted against the proposal this month, saying it would not improve the lives of incarcerated Wisconsinites. After Tittl unveiled his legislation, the Department of Corrections introduced its own administrative policy changes to increase monetary limits on inmates’ possessions.

Those changes were adopted as an emergency rule that has since expired. A proposed rule that would adopt the higher limits on a permanent basis is pending. Part of the rule changes mirror Tittl’s bill by raising the limit on most types of personal property to $150.

But the administrative changes would also go further by increasing the monetary limit on the value of electronics and musical instruments an inmate can have from $350 to $500.

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