Downtown prison
About 100 people gather to seek the closing of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility.
About 100 community organizers gathered in the sweltering heat of the St. Benedict the Moor Parish hall Saturday to commemorate the #CLOSEmsdf campaign as it enters its second year.
The campaign demands that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections close the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, where 18 people have died while in custody at the North 10th Street facility's since its 2001 opening. Organizers demand that the the facility's multimillion-dollar operating cost be reinvested into local communities.
MSDF was originally built to house former inmates who violated their community supervision terms. These minor infractions — such as missing a parole officer meeting — can result in reincarceration.
Leaders convened in the church Saturday evening in the wake of a June report that found over 50% of Wisconsin's prison population is doing time for supervision violations such as those, the third highest rate in the nation.
#CLOSEmsdf wants Gov. Tony Evers to live up to his campaign promise to end this incarceration practice.
"In the last two years, #CLOSEmsdf has pulled the curtain back on crimeless revocation in the state of Wisconsin and has begun the important work of ending that practice, using the funds saved by not incarcerating people to expand programs and services needed to fully restore our returning citizens and ensure their success," said Jerome Dillard, state director of EX-incarcerated People Organizing, or EXPO, one of the organizations that leads #CLOSEmsdf.
The #CLOSEmsdf website says the high-rise facility has inadequate health care services and lacks direct sunlight, air conditioning and outdoor recreation. The website also states MSDF's current inmate count is 1,040, but the facility was designed to hold about 400 people.
Saturday's gathering gave citizens an opportunity to hear how the #CLOSEmsdf campaign has grown since its 2017 inception. It included a panel discussion featuring three campaign leaders — Dillard, Youth Justice Milwaukee
#CLOSEmsdf organizers host a march to the facility and Aurora Sinai Medical Center on Saturday.
Co-founder Sharlen Moore and African American Roundtable Lead Organizer Devin Anderson.
During the discussion, moderated by Emilio De Torre, ACLU of Wisconsin's director of community engagement, the campaign leaders spoke about the importance of taking direct action and communicating with policymakers.
"We are not going to be invited to the table," Moore said. "We have to show up and bring our own chair."
Anderson said groups such as the African American Roundtable would be hosting meetings to teach residents how to lobby their officials and tell their own experiences effectively during legislative hearings.
In response to an audience question asking how the campaign would leverage publicity generated by next summer's Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Anderson said activists need to hold officials accountable for how DNC revenue is allocated throughout the city.
Moore said it would be an opportunity to give candidates an unfiltered view of issues that Milwaukee faces.
"Some folks don't realize the immense issues that are happening in this city," Moore said. "We have an opportunity and we have a moment to use — and we can use it effectively — but it's going to take some coordination and some strategizing to figure out what that looks like."
The event at the church ended with a candlelight vigil honoring the memory of those who died in MSDF custody.
Audience members then gathered outside the church for a march to the facility and then to Aurora Sinai Medical Center "to raise awareness of the deaths in MSDF that could have been prevented with adequate medical care," campaign spokesperson Brian Erickson said.