Number of People in Wisconsin State Prisons for Drunken Driving Offenses Has Quadrupled Since 2000

Tuesday, July 14th, 2026 -- 10:00 AM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) The number of people in Wisconsin state prisons for drunken driving offenses has more than quadrupled since 2000, hitting a record high in 2024, according to Joe Schulz with the Wisconsin Public Radio.

That’s according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, which examined operating while intoxicated, or OWI, incarceration in the state. In 2000, 667 people were in prisons for OWI convictions, according to the report.

That number reached a record high of 2,899 in 2024 before falling slightly to 2,750 last year. Those numbers do not include people in local jails for OWI arrests. Policy changes at the state level in recent decades may have influenced the rise in OWI incarceration in Wisconsin, said Joe Peterangelo, research director for the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

For example, in 2003, Wisconsin lowered the maximum allowable blood-alcohol concentration from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. The state has also made policy changes since 2000 that have increased penalties for fourth and subsequent convictions and aggravated offenses, the report noted.

“Wisconsin is the only state that charges a first offense as a civil offense, not a criminal misdemeanor,” Peterangelo said. “But when you get to fourth and subsequent, we’re up there with Illinois as the states with the harshest typical penalties, the longer periods of incarceration.”

While the number of people incarcerated for OWI convictions has risen dramatically, OWI arrests are actually down, the report says. The state saw 36,726 OWI arrests in 2002, down to 18,637 in 2025, according to the report.

And over the last 20 years, arrests by Wisconsin law enforcement agencies for any offense have declined by 60.7 percent. Peterangelo said there’s evidence that this trend means there are fewer arrests for first-offense drunk driving, but more arrests for severe or repeat arrests.

He said an interview with the Medical College of Wisconsin helped explain why that may be. “We’re seeing more adults not drinking alcohol or drinking less alcohol than they were in the past,” Peterangelo said. “But that’s not necessarily stopping people who were already heavier drinkers. … Those people, in many cases, are drinking even more than they were in the past.”

That also may be one reason why the largest increase in OWI incarceration has been among adults 55 or older, Peterangelo said. Since 2010, the report found that the per capita incarceration rate for adults 55 and older more than tripled.

“Those people have more time to rack up multiple OWIs,” Peterangelo said. “When you’re getting to a fourth or fifth or subsequent OWI, you’re much more likely to be imprisoned and to spend longer periods of time in prison.”

But even while first-offense OWI arrests may be down, 64 percent of “alcohol-impaired drivers in fatal and serious injury crashes had no previous OWI history,” according to the report.

The report also identified racial disparities in OWI data. In 2024, the report says Black and American Indian adults were “over-represented” in state prisons for OWI convictions compared to their share of the state population.

The state’s American Indian population has long had the highest rate of OWI incarceration, but the rate among Black residents has “risen considerably” since 2010, the report noted.

“The Black and white OWI incarceration rates were pretty similar back in 2010,” Peterangelo said. “But now, the Black incarceration rate is about twice as high as the white incarceration rate. That’s been a more recent change that is concerning.”

The report identifies a host of policy considerations that could address the OWI issue in Wisconsin, including expanding access to substance abuse programs, further lowering the blood-alcohol limit and raising the state’s beer tax for the first time since 1977.

“None of these things on its own is a silver bullet, and they all have pros and cons,” Peterangelo said. “Some of them may be effective at helping to reduce drunk driving, but may carry other costs or have negative consequences or result in increased incarceration.”

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