WISDOM Leadership Training January 11

David Liners, Executive Director of WISDOM, will be providing an exciting training on Saturday, January 11 from 9am – noon at Lake Edge Lutheran Church at 4032 Monona Drive (just past the Cottage Grove intersection if you’re coming from the west; PARK IN BACK OF THE CHURCH).
The training is FREE and will focus on skills we need as individuals and as congregational members to be effective leaders for the crucial policy changes we seek in Wisconsin’s criminal justice system.
Lake Edge has graciously offered to provide beverages, including coffee and tea. WISDOM’s trainings are interactive and fun and always receive very positive reviews.
The training is especially important for new MOSES members, whether individuals or congregations, or those just curious about MOSES.  If you know of any congregation considering joining MOSES, or who could benefit from exposure to our fine organization, please invite them to send representatives. (If you know of new people committed to attending, please send me an email of approximate numbers.)

Following the training, we will have a brown bag lunch hour (everyone to bring own sack lunch) at noon where we will open the floor to invite your thoughts and ideas about MOSES’ coming year– suggested changes in process or substance, what you appreciate about MOSES, how we could do better, etc.  Somewhere in there we may need to fit in 10-15 minutes of reporting MOSES news.  Voting members are urged to attend this hour; others are warmly welcome to participate.
Happy New Year to all,
Carol Rubin, President, MOSES

MOSES Monthly Meeting and 11×15 Updates

Join us for our monthly meeting on Saturday, December 7 at the usual time and place:
from 10-12pm, First Congregational Church at 1609 University Avenue, Madison WI 53726

11X15 News updates

     A 2008 Legislative Audit Bureau report shows higher rates of recidivism among younger offenders placed into the adult correctional system. Recidivism rates among 17-year-old defendants in Wisconsin are estimated to be as high as 48 percent, three times higher than for adult offenders or younger juveniles in the juvenile system. The Wisconsin Joint Legislative Council requested an analysis of the juvenile justice process in Wisconsin and examination of current practices in other states. This report evaluates the status quo policy and two categories of alternative policies: waiver laws and blended sentencing.   For a 2008 study:  Treatment of Juveniles in the WI Criminal Court System: An Analysis of Potential Alternatives prepared for the Wisconsin Joint Legislative Council by the La Follette School of Public Affairs…click here

“Active participation by a Sentencing Commission is an essential element of effective guidelines,” according to a recent research report Assessing Consistency and Fairness in Sentencing (National Center for State Courts, 2008). The report is based on a comparative inquiry into how sentencing guidelines shape who is sentenced to prison and for what length of time. A key finding of the study is that Commissions play a critical role in designing guidelines, assessing whether guidelines are working as intended, and identifying how needed adjustments might best be made A 2008 comparative study of sentencing guidelines by National Center for State Courts (NCSC) click here…

The fear, anxiety and memory loss are some of the symptoms commonly found among people kept in extreme isolation. They lie at the heart of a policy and scientific debate that was renewed this summer after prisoners statewide went on a hunger strike to protest conditions in high-security lockups. State legislators have begun to question whether a system primarily designed to isolate gang members is standing in the way of rehabilitation.  For a sense of the enduring impact of prison isolation see this November 8, 2013 LA Times article: Prison isolation

In February, a group of American corrections officials, judges, prosecutors and public defenders spent a week visiting prisons in Germany and the Netherlands. Those countries incarcerate people at about one-tenth the rate of the United States, for far less time, and under conditions geared toward social reintegration rather than punishment alone. US incarcerates more…

A letter to the editor about the challenges facing ‘offenders’ seeking housing “Offender” stigma for would-be renters

 

Monthly Meeting September 7th at Fountain of Life Church

We hope to see you Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 10am for our monthly meeting.
Because there is a UW football game that morning, parking near our usual meeting spot will be virtually non-existent!  Instead the meeting will be held at:
Fountain of Life Churchfile000366660229
633 W. Badger Rd.
Madison WI  53713

Fountain of Life is about 2 blocks east of Park Street.  Badger is the last cross street on Park St. before the beltline.

The October monthly meeting will be the first Saturday in October (10/5) back at First Congregational at 10am.

July Monthly Meeting THIS Saturday, July 13, 2013

We hope to see you THIS Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 10am for our monthly meeting.
Due to a scheduling conflict, we will meet at
Fountain of Life church
633 W. Badger Rd.
Madison WI  53713

Fountain of Life is about 2 blocks west of Park Street.  Badger is the last cross street on Park St. before the beltline.

Monthly meetings are generally held the first Saturday of each month at First Congregational Church.  The date was changed due to the 4th of July holiday and the location was changed due to a scheduling conflict.

The August monthly meeting with be the first Saturday in August, the 3rd, back at First Congregational at 10am.

Time Change for May Monthly Meeting

From Carol Rubin, Co-Chair, MOSES

file000298225618Our monthly meeting is THIS Saturday  from 9:00 a.m. and goes until 1:00 p.m. (unlike our usual meeting which is 10 till noon). It is at our usual location at First Congregational Church at 1609 University Avenue, in the Fellowship Hall in the basement. We will begin with some important developments in the 11×15 Campaign for about 30 minutes, and then move into our special meeting on MOSES’ organization and governance which will put MOSES on solid ground for future stability and effectiveness.
There will be coffee and donuts, as well as sandwiches for our lunch break.
See you at 9:00 on Saturday, May 4th.