By co-locating staff at the Milwaukee Office of African American Affairs, Employ Milwaukee aims to better support people leaving incarceration referred through the nearby correctional institutions it works with.
Criminal justice
Posted inCriminal justice
My most memorable story of 2025: His 180-year prison sentence was cut after saving a guard’s life. Years later, he’s still waiting to go home.
My most memorable story of 2025 shows the workings of the criminal justice system from the point of view of the people in it.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
My most memorable story of 2025: Telling his story through her eyes
The piece that has stayed with me most is a story about Derek Williams, whose 180-year prison sentence was reduced after he saved a correctional officer’s life, yet his path to parole remains long.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
Background check delay shows crackdown’s strain on immigration system
An immigration judge backed a green card for a Sheboygan Falls mother arrested after accidentally crossing the Canadian border, but a delayed background check prolonged her ICE detention for weeks.
Posted inCriminal justice
A century after pioneering work release, Wisconsin corrections officials don’t track how many prisoners participate
Wisconsin was the first state to let some incarcerated people work in the community, allowing them to save money and pay for room and board. Today, prisoners say there aren’t nearly enough of these jobs to go around, and prison officials say they don’t keep count.
Posted inCriminal justice, Government
Wisconsin prosecution of 2020 fake elector scheme moves ahead as other state efforts falter
Legal experts say Wisconsin has a better case against the architects of the national plan, rather than the fake electors themselves.
Posted inCriminal justice
Wisconsin Supreme Court to weigh sheriffs’ cooperation with ICE
The ACLU sued on behalf of the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera. The lawsuit challenges detention practices in Brown, Kenosha, Marathon, Sauk and Walworth counties.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
ICE plans to leave facility on Milwaukee School of Engineering campus
ICE will transition its processing operations from a building owned by the Milwaukee School of Engineering to a new location on the Northwest Side.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
Courts left with loose ends when ICE detains criminal defendants
When defendants sit in ICE custody, their criminal cases generally continue without them — sometimes with no explanation of their absence to the court.
Posted inCriminal justice, Government
‘So sudden, so jarring’: Immigration ruling streamlines deportations to countries asylum seekers barely know
A Board of Immigration Appeals decision makes it easier for federal officials to toss thousands of asylum cases and send applicants to a “third country” where they have never lived. But the mechanism is being used inconsistently.