Walker sees ‘no value’ in prison tour; ally disagrees
Supreme Court candidate speaks of lessons from visit
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker’s refusal to tour state prisons got a little more complicated this week when a former aide jumped into the race for state Supreme Court.
The GOP governor last week said there would be “no value” in him visiting a prison.
That stance is at odds with the one taken by Appeals Judge Brian Hagedorn, who announced Thursday he is running for state Supreme Court.
Hagedorn is a former chief legal counsel to Walker who was appointed to the bench by the governor. Hagedorn says he has learned a lot by touring a prison once a year.
In a string of posts on Twitter last month, Hagedorn wrote that by talking to inmates he gained insights into their lives before they wound up behind bars.
“These guys have had rough lives,” Hagedorn wrote on July 27. “Of the five men I talked to, none had a father in their life. Two said their father had been murdered. None had a supportive, nurturing home life.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “Why join a gang, I asked? It’s family. Dad’s not around, mom doesn’t care or is on drugs. The older guy on the street appears to be the only person who ‘cares’ about you. That’s where you learn how to be a man.”
Hagedorn wrote that he prayed for the inmates, including one who talked about a Christian pen pal “who literally saved his life by being a supportive friend.”
“Being a judge is sobering business,” Hagedorn wrote. “Real people. Real consequences. Brokenness up close. It’s humbling to have been given this kind of power by the people. I hope to steward it well.”
Walker, who is seeking a third term this fall, has taken a different approach. He has not visited a Wisconsin prison since he was elected in 2010.
That’s prompted criticism from workers and inmate advocates who argue he could have addressed problems sooner if he had visited Lincoln Hills School for Boys north of Wausau. The juvenile prison — which Walker recently agreed to close by 2021 — for more than three years has been under a criminal investigation into prisoner abuse and child neglect.
Walker in 2016 said he hadn’t visited the prisons he is in charge of because he did not think the staff he oversees would give him a true look at the facilities.
“You’re going to see what people want you to see there,” he said then.
Last week, he said he leaves running the corrections system to the people he hires to do those jobs.
“No, to me there’s no value to me visiting,” Walker said.
That sentiment drew criticism from prison workers, including Doug Curtis, a former guard at Lincoln Hills, who said Walker won’t visit the teen prison because “he’s not going to draw anyone’s attention to his failures and this is a glaring failure.”
Hagedorn’s jump into the Supreme Court race revives the issue, given his views on prison visits.
Hagedorn is running against Appeals Judge Lisa Neubauer in the spring 2019 election to replace Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who is not running for re-election.