News & Commentary

In recent years, there have been calls by communities at varying distances from the Great Lakes to divert Great Lakes water for drinking (and development) purposes. Under the 2008 Great Lakes Compact ( http://www.greatlakes.org/Document.Doc?id=144 ), Great Lakes water generally must remain within the Great Lakes basin – except that municipalities within counties that straddle the basin can request water. That request, however, can be vetoed by even just ONE governor of one of the Great Lakes states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin).   The first test case is coming from Wau

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Wisconsin today announced that the State of Wisconsin has satisfied the terms of a settlement agreement requiring fundamental changes to medical and mental health care at the state’s largest women’s prison and that the parties to Flynn v. Walker, the longstanding class-action lawsuit, would file papers seeking court dismissal of the case. The first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit was originally filed in 2006 on behalf of women prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution. The lawsuit charged that the prison system put the lives of women prisoners at risk through grossly deficient health care, provided women mental health treatment far inferior to that provided to men in Wisconsin, and failed to provide reasonable accommodations to allow prisoners with disabilities to access basic prison services.

Last week, representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) held a “listening session” as the COPS Office began a voluntary Collaborative Reform Initiative program with the Milwaukee Police Department.  Milwaukee community organizations and individuals reiterated some of the issues that surfaced during the listening session and at subsequent meetings that they hope will be included in the goals for the collaborative reform initiative in a letter sent today.

Police agencies in Wisconsin use civil asset forfeiture laws to seize – and then keep or sell – property they allege is involved in a crime.  Even if the owner of the property is innocent or never charged, they may never get their property back.  From the moment police seize the property until the courts act, owners are harmed, and may be deprived of their vehicle or the funds they may need to hire an attorney.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 8, 2015

by Jabril Faraj

"All censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships." - George Bernard Shaw

Update:

This Thanksgiving season, we are grateful for your support of the ACLU of Wisconsin. Because of you, we were able to expand our community education programs, fostering opportunities for young people across the state to become active leaders in their communities. Your support allows us to defend and advocate for the individual rights and liberties granted by our Constitution. Thank you!