Wisconsin's prison population boom

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Wisconsin cannot incarcerate its way out of every social problem."

– Marianne Oleson, co-executive director of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), discussing the state’s record-breaking prison population

Wisconsin’s prison population hit a new record high last week. As of Aug. 28, there were 23,854 people housed in the state’s overcrowded adult prisons, surpassing the last record, set  in 2019. Isiah Holmes talks to advocates and former incarcerated people about the problems driving the outsized numbers.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday weighed how it should manage the response to election administration errors made by the cities of Milwaukee and Green Bay in recent months. The commission is waiting for more information from Milwaukee on mistakes that delayed the vote count in the August primary, and has concluded its investigation of duplicate absentee ballots mailed to Green Bay voters. Henry Redman has the details.

A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness. Layoffs at the FDA and the CDC could be making things worse, Anna Claire Vollers of Stateline reports.

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday declined the Trump administration’s request to overturn the temporary restraining order she signed last week that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a rule placing new restrictions on mail-in voting. Jacob Fischler reports.

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