After being contacted by Madison365, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections will modify a PowerPoint presentation used in training of probation and parole agents to remove imagery that some say depicts parolees as less than human, a department spokesman said Tuesday.
The PowerPoint on evidence-based response to violations (EBRV), obtained by Madison365 Monday, was most recently presented at a training session attended by Milwaukee Police and community service workers on March 31, and later emailed to attendees by Milwaukee City Attorney staff. It employs imagery that seems to compare discipline of parolees to dog training. It also uses images of misbehaving donkeys and guinea pigs.
“The PowerPoint … was created to orient probation and parole agents and supervisors to a violation matrix that is being rolled out to Community Corrections staff,” said Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook in an email. “At no time were any of the images in the presentation meant to represent offenders on DOC supervision or to trivialize the important changes underway by the department. Having received concerns from the community, the PowerPoint presentation has been modified to remove the images.”
Advocates and legislators aren’t sure that’s enough.
“It’s personal for a lot of us,” said Alan Schultz, a board member of Ex-Prisoners Organizing (EXPO), a statewide organization that advocates for people who have been previously incarcerated.
Schultz said he wasn’t surprised to see animal imagery in a presentation on dealing with parolees and people on probation, having been treated in a way he’d consider “less than human” in his seven and a half years in and out of the corrections system.
“I was surprised that they outed themselves,” he said. “You kind of see the treatment like that when you’re in (prison). When you see something like (the presentation) come out, it reiterates where some of the attitudes come from.”
“I am appalled,” said State Representative David Bowen, who serves on the Assembly Committee on Corrections, in an interview with Madison365. “These are people who may have done something wrong, but we are trying to get them back into the economy, into the workforce so they can provide for their families and contribute to the community. We can’t do that if we’re treating them as less than human.”
“The depiction of animals included a donkey (an ass) a guinea pig (a pig) and the overall ‘bad dog’ imagery seemed completely unnecessary to me,” said Representative Sondy Pope, who also sits on the Committee on Corrections, in an email to Madison365. “I wonder why the use of animal imagery was considered necessary to convey the ideas of the Power Point in the first place. It certainly seems that good judgement was not used in making this particular piece and I would recommend that it be discontinued until a new Power Point can be produced.”
“Representative (David) Considine has asked to see DOC’s training materials before, but this is the first time we’ve seen anything like this,” said Considine spokesperson Grace Colas in an email to Madison365. “Dave is extremely disappointed and concerned about the content of this presentation. He has asked numerous times about the Department’s training practices, especially regarding evidence-based, non-violent crisis intervention. This is not the kind of thing we were hoping to see. As always, Dave is ready and willing to work with DOC and the other members of the Corrections Committee to help improve their policies and practices. This training presentation just goes to show that we have quite a bit of work to do together.”
Schultz said removal of the animal images isn’t enough.
“It’d be great if they did a public apology and maybe tell us how long they’ve been using training materials like this,” he said. “We have no idea how pervasive this is. Where were their own officers calling that out? That kind of shows the whole climate.”
Corrections spokesman Cook did not answer questions about how many times the presentation has been used before, who created it and who delivered it on March 31. Madison365 intends to file open records requests for this information.
“There needs to be a change in thinking,” said Bowen. “Staff needs to not act like they’re doing things differently. They actually have to do things differently.”
