Governor Evers Takes Steps to Shorten Criminal Sentences

Monday, April 6th, 2026 -- 11:00 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is taking steps to shorten some criminal sentences by handing down the state’s first commutations in more than two decades.

According to Sarah Lehr with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the governor announced Friday he had issued two executive orders to restart the commutation process in Wisconsin.

That includes creating a new board to advise him on which sentences should be commuted. Under Wisconsin’s Constitution, a governor can use commutations to cut short someone’s prison sentence.

Commutations can also be used to cut back someone’s time on parole or extended supervision. But, for more than 25 years, Democratic and Republican governors have allowed that power to sit untouched. The last commutations in Wisconsin were issued by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson who left office in 2001. That could soon change.

“It’s time for Wisconsin to join red and blue states across our country and finally move our justice system into the 21st Century by reforming our criminal justice and corrections systems to improve public safety, reduce the likelihood that individuals will reoffend when they enter our communities, and save taxpayer dollars in the long run,” Evers said in a statement Friday.

After Evers announced he would not seek a third term for governor, pressure has grown from criminal justice reformers who have urged him to issue commutations before he leaves office in January 2027.

While campaigning for his first term as governor, Evers said he supported cutting the state’s prison population in half. Instead, there are now more than 23,000 adults locked up in the state’s prisons, which is roughly the same as when Evers took office.

Since 1990, the state’s prison population has more than tripled, and the prison system is struggling with overcrowding.

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