For years, Wisconsin Democrat Mandela Barnes has been an outspoken advocate for releasing HALF of Wisconsin’s prison population — a number that includes murderers, attempted murderers, and rapists.
It sounds insane (and, of course, it is), but it has been a cornerstone of Barnes’s platform for years:
- 2018: Barnes said, “We can cut our [prison] population in HALF. We can make our communities safer.”
- 2018: Barnes reiterated his call to release HALF the state’s prison inmates: “Absolutely!”
- 2018: Barnes called it “sexy” to release prison inmates en masse.
- 2019: Barnes tweeted “let’s cut our prison population in half.”
- 2020: Barnes doubled down, saying there is “a responsibility to reduce our prison population.”
- 2020: Barnes bragged about “constantly pushing on a reduction of spending on corrections” and says he “wish[es] we could accelerate” releasing violent criminals from prison.
- 2021: Barnes lamented his state hasn’t yet met his goal of “reduc[ing] Wisconsin’s prison population by 11,000 inmates” — or HALF.
- 2021: Barnes said he’s “just getting started” on his push to release criminals from prison early.
- 2022: Barnes bragged about his “11x15” campaign, which aims to release HALF of Wisconsin's inmates.
While the majority of Wisconsin inmates — 68 percent — are classified as violent criminals, hundreds of dangerous inmates were released anyway under Barnes, Democrat Gov. Tony Evers, and their hand-picked parole commissioner.
It’s dangerous and wrong, but Barnes is just getting started.
