Inmate Labor Policy Changed At FLCI
10/05/09 - The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has revised its inmate labor policy at three minimum-security prisons. The change came after prisoners at facilities, like Fox Lake Correctional, were found to be working in the private sector even after full-time, non-inmate employees were laid off. State Senator Scott Fitzgerald told us on Community Comment last week that he contacted corrections officials after hearing complaints from constituents about inmate labor at Mayville Engineering Company.
In a letter to Senator Fitzgerald, DOC Secretary Rick Raemisch said for at least the past six years the inmate worker policy has been that if (quote) “the placement site is laying off non-inmate workers then (inmate) placement should be suspended. Inmates should not continue to work at a placement site if non-inmate workers performing similar work at the same site are losing their jobs.” However, Raemisch said that same provision had not been applied to minimum-security institutions like Fox Lake Correctional. DOC spokesman John Dipko tells us that policy change is now in place at not only Fox Lake, but also at Oak Hill Correctional in Dane County and the Sturtevant Transitional Facility in Racine County, the state’s only other two minimum security prisons.
MEC CEO Bob Kamphuis says all full-time, laid-off employees have been called back. Kamphuis says the program has been mutually beneficial and MEC will work with the Department or Corrections as long as the program is offered. Officials with the DOC and MEC tell us there are currently about a dozen inmate workers employed at Mayville Engineering Beaver Dam and Mayville sites, though that number fluctuates on a regular basis. The work-release program generates money for room and board to help reduce taxpayer costs while also providing inmates with valuable on-the-job experience that Dipko says helps lower the recidivism rate.
Sparacio Found Competent To Stand Trial on Molestation Charges
10/05/09 - A Fox Lake man accused of molesting a preteen girl has been deemed fit to stand trial. Jonathan Sparacio was in court on Friday for a competency hearing. An evaluation was ordered in June by Judge Brian Pfitzinger after attorney’s for the defendant raised the issue. The 62-year-old is charged with a felony count of Child Enticement for a series of offenses that allegedly occurred in 2004. The mother of the victim is said to have legally recorded two conversations with Sparacio in which he allegedly admitted guilt but blamed the girl. He is being held in the Dodge County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond. Arraignment is set for Wednesday.
Packer-Vikings on Monday Night Football
10/5/09 - The day most Packer fans had hoped would never come is finally here. Former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings welcome the Packers to town tonight for Monday Night Football. If the Vikings win Favre will have defeated every team in the league at least once, something no other player has ever done.
For Governor Jim Doyle it’s one down and one to go for Wisconsin football teams. The governor and Minnesota’s Governor Tim Pawlenty waged two friendly bets on the games against the state teams this weekend. With the Badgers 31-28 victory over the Gophers on Saturday, Doyle will receive a Hormel pork tenderloin and Minnesota wild rice. The bet for tonight’s game is a selection of Wisconsin beer versus a selection of Minnesota beer. Doyle says there are a number of reasons to win the game but quote “not least among them is that we’re all intrigued by what Minnesota beer might be.”
Meanwhile, the impact of tonight’s game is also being felt, a little bit at least, in local government. The Beaver Dam School Board, which usually meets at 6:30pm on the first and third Monday of the month has moved tonight’s meeting up to 5pm at the Educational Service Center. The board is set to hear a number of reports, including an update on the proposed budget and levy for the 2010 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the city of Beaver Dam Common Council has an unusually light agenda, with just two items on it. That meeting though, is still set for 8pm.
Waupun Woman Gets Probation for Theft
10/5/09 - A 19-year-old Waupun woman has been placed on probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge. Ashley Ewert was convicted of stealing from her employer in an effort to support her Oxycontin addiction. Ewert will serve a year of probation and seven days in the county jail. According to authorities, Ewert stole more than four thousand dollars from the Citgo in Waupun to supplement her drug habit.
State Mental Hospital Cutting Employees
10/5/09 - State officials sent layoff notices to about 85 employees at the Winnebago County Mental Health Institute. The institute anticipates a drop in patients admitted next year and won't need as much staff. The state budget this year put the burden of paying for mental health services on the counties. County Executive Mark Harris expects more adolescents to be served as outpatients, making it less likely that counties will use the state mental health hospital. The Mendota Mental Health Institute near Madison is also expected to layoff workers.
Some National Guard Troops Returning Today
10/5/09 - About 60 members of the Wisconsin National Guard will return from Southwest Asia this afternoon. Friends and relatives will be on hand to welcome the 128th Air Control Squadron at Volk Field near Camp Douglas in Juneau County. They’ve spent the last four months providing ground and satellite communications, computer maintenance, radar operations, power production, and more. The group is part of a larger unit which controls air space at the remote Combined Air-and-Space Operations Center. The Wisconsin Guard now has about 37-hundred members on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other foreign locations – plus 65-hundred more troops in Wisconsin.
Powerball Winner in FL
10/5/09 - You didn't win the Powerball jackpot on Saturday unless you bought your ticket in Florida. One ticket there matched all the numbers to win 189-million dollars, the second-largest jackpot of the year. The jackpot goes back to 20-million-dollars for the next drawing on Wednesday night.
10/05/09 - The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has revised its inmate labor policy at three minimum-security prisons. The change came after prisoners at facilities, like Fox Lake Correctional, were found to be working in the private sector even after full-time, non-inmate employees were laid off. State Senator Scott Fitzgerald told us on Community Comment last week that he contacted corrections officials after hearing complaints from constituents about inmate labor at Mayville Engineering Company.
In a letter to Senator Fitzgerald, DOC Secretary Rick Raemisch said for at least the past six years the inmate worker policy has been that if (quote) “the placement site is laying off non-inmate workers then (inmate) placement should be suspended. Inmates should not continue to work at a placement site if non-inmate workers performing similar work at the same site are losing their jobs.” However, Raemisch said that same provision had not been applied to minimum-security institutions like Fox Lake Correctional. DOC spokesman John Dipko tells us that policy change is now in place at not only Fox Lake, but also at Oak Hill Correctional in Dane County and the Sturtevant Transitional Facility in Racine County, the state’s only other two minimum security prisons.
MEC CEO Bob Kamphuis says all full-time, laid-off employees have been called back. Kamphuis says the program has been mutually beneficial and MEC will work with the Department or Corrections as long as the program is offered. Officials with the DOC and MEC tell us there are currently about a dozen inmate workers employed at Mayville Engineering Beaver Dam and Mayville sites, though that number fluctuates on a regular basis. The work-release program generates money for room and board to help reduce taxpayer costs while also providing inmates with valuable on-the-job experience that Dipko says helps lower the recidivism rate.
Sparacio Found Competent To Stand Trial on Molestation Charges
10/05/09 - A Fox Lake man accused of molesting a preteen girl has been deemed fit to stand trial. Jonathan Sparacio was in court on Friday for a competency hearing. An evaluation was ordered in June by Judge Brian Pfitzinger after attorney’s for the defendant raised the issue. The 62-year-old is charged with a felony count of Child Enticement for a series of offenses that allegedly occurred in 2004. The mother of the victim is said to have legally recorded two conversations with Sparacio in which he allegedly admitted guilt but blamed the girl. He is being held in the Dodge County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond. Arraignment is set for Wednesday.
Packer-Vikings on Monday Night Football
10/5/09 - The day most Packer fans had hoped would never come is finally here. Former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings welcome the Packers to town tonight for Monday Night Football. If the Vikings win Favre will have defeated every team in the league at least once, something no other player has ever done.
For Governor Jim Doyle it’s one down and one to go for Wisconsin football teams. The governor and Minnesota’s Governor Tim Pawlenty waged two friendly bets on the games against the state teams this weekend. With the Badgers 31-28 victory over the Gophers on Saturday, Doyle will receive a Hormel pork tenderloin and Minnesota wild rice. The bet for tonight’s game is a selection of Wisconsin beer versus a selection of Minnesota beer. Doyle says there are a number of reasons to win the game but quote “not least among them is that we’re all intrigued by what Minnesota beer might be.”
Meanwhile, the impact of tonight’s game is also being felt, a little bit at least, in local government. The Beaver Dam School Board, which usually meets at 6:30pm on the first and third Monday of the month has moved tonight’s meeting up to 5pm at the Educational Service Center. The board is set to hear a number of reports, including an update on the proposed budget and levy for the 2010 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the city of Beaver Dam Common Council has an unusually light agenda, with just two items on it. That meeting though, is still set for 8pm.
Waupun Woman Gets Probation for Theft
10/5/09 - A 19-year-old Waupun woman has been placed on probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge. Ashley Ewert was convicted of stealing from her employer in an effort to support her Oxycontin addiction. Ewert will serve a year of probation and seven days in the county jail. According to authorities, Ewert stole more than four thousand dollars from the Citgo in Waupun to supplement her drug habit.
State Mental Hospital Cutting Employees
10/5/09 - State officials sent layoff notices to about 85 employees at the Winnebago County Mental Health Institute. The institute anticipates a drop in patients admitted next year and won't need as much staff. The state budget this year put the burden of paying for mental health services on the counties. County Executive Mark Harris expects more adolescents to be served as outpatients, making it less likely that counties will use the state mental health hospital. The Mendota Mental Health Institute near Madison is also expected to layoff workers.
Some National Guard Troops Returning Today
10/5/09 - About 60 members of the Wisconsin National Guard will return from Southwest Asia this afternoon. Friends and relatives will be on hand to welcome the 128th Air Control Squadron at Volk Field near Camp Douglas in Juneau County. They’ve spent the last four months providing ground and satellite communications, computer maintenance, radar operations, power production, and more. The group is part of a larger unit which controls air space at the remote Combined Air-and-Space Operations Center. The Wisconsin Guard now has about 37-hundred members on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other foreign locations – plus 65-hundred more troops in Wisconsin.
Powerball Winner in FL
10/5/09 - You didn't win the Powerball jackpot on Saturday unless you bought your ticket in Florida. One ticket there matched all the numbers to win 189-million dollars, the second-largest jackpot of the year. The jackpot goes back to 20-million-dollars for the next drawing on Wednesday night.
Municipal Court Staying In Columbus City Hall
10/05/09 - The Eastern Columbia County Municipal Court will NOT be moving out of Columbus City Hall. The City offered space in the new Police Department facilities beginning January 1, but the ECC Court Board declined. The issue now will be security in City Hall when the Police move to their Ludington Street Law Building quarters. City Administrator Boyd Kraemer told the Council that the ECC Board has requested that the City improve their City Hall Court and office facilities when the Police move. Kraemer also said the decrease in City Hall occupancy would cause a decrease in security for the Clerk of Court. The Court currently shares a City Hall clerk’s office, the Council Chambers and hallways during scheduled weekday hours. Kraemer has asked the Council to respond to the ECC Court Board and help define the revised City Hall usage plans when Columbus Police move into their Ludington Street facilities.
10/05/09 - The Eastern Columbia County Municipal Court will NOT be moving out of Columbus City Hall. The City offered space in the new Police Department facilities beginning January 1, but the ECC Court Board declined. The issue now will be security in City Hall when the Police move to their Ludington Street Law Building quarters. City Administrator Boyd Kraemer told the Council that the ECC Board has requested that the City improve their City Hall Court and office facilities when the Police move. Kraemer also said the decrease in City Hall occupancy would cause a decrease in security for the Clerk of Court. The Court currently shares a City Hall clerk’s office, the Council Chambers and hallways during scheduled weekday hours. Kraemer has asked the Council to respond to the ECC Court Board and help define the revised City Hall usage plans when Columbus Police move into their Ludington Street facilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment