Why I am at UWM
I
am currently a second-year doctoral student in urban studies at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before beginning this program, I earned master’s
degrees in urban studies and nonprofit management at UWM and completed a
bachelor’s degree program in human services at the Madison Center of Upper Iowa
University. I developed an interest in urban issues through my life, work, and
educational experience.
I originally became interested in several of
the issues I study at UWM while I lived in a public housing building in Madison,
Wisconsin. Low-income older people and poor individuals who suffered from
disabling mental or physical conditions resided in the building, and several
low-income single mothers lived in adjacent buildings. During the three years
that I resided in this area, I got to know many residents and became familiar
with challenges that marginalized groups in cities often face. Although I could
not regularly work in the few years preceding my stay in public housing and
during my time there because of the severity of a mental illness that I suffered
from, I periodically completed courses at Madison Area Technical College,
UW-Madison, and Upper Iowa University. I could not always function well enough
to complete all of my courses. I dropped all of my courses in a couple of
semesters largely because my mental health deteriorated, and I only completed
courses part-time for several semesters, but I eventually earned a B.S. in
human services.
After graduating, I decided to
continue my education in the urban studies master’s program at UWM. I believed I
could begin to work at that time because my mental health had gradually
improved after years of treatment. During my first year in the program, I worked
as a project assistant in the history department and completed internships with
a couple of nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee. Although I functioned well
for most of the year, I began to experience severe symptoms of mental illness
again by the end of the year.
One day shortly before the start of
my second year of graduate school, a couple of Milwaukee police officers
arrested me for disorderly conduct because I frightened an individual while I
was walking in the east side of Milwaukee. I was already on probation for nonviolent
crimes that I committed eight years earlier so the police officers took me to
jail. I went to court three days later. The prosecutor, the public defender,
and the judge all agreed that my behavior did not fit with the definition of
disorderly conduct. The judge dismissed the disorderly conduct case, but my
probation officer did not let me go home. My probation officer, who did not
have training in mental health issues, moved forward with the revocation of my
probation. My former probation officer, who was a mental health specialist in
Madison, did not agree with the decision of my probation officer in Milwaukee.
He believed that an alternative to revocation would have been a better option.
My probation officer forced me to stay in the Milwaukee Secure Detention
Facility (MSDF) for nearly six months while I fought the revocation. Eventually,
a Milwaukee judge revoked my probation. After spending a few more weeks in a
county jail, I went to court again. I faced a maximum of 12 years in prison,
but the sentencing judge decided to let me go home.
My experience with the criminal
justice system of Wisconsin played a central role in my decision to specialize
in penal policy in the urban studies doctoral program at UWM. During my time in
the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, I learned about several flaws in the
penal system of Wisconsin. I met several people who got sent to prison for
technical probation violations. A judge sentenced one individual I met in MSDF
to three years in prison for drinking alcohol. Unjust revocation policies are
just one of many inadequacies in the state’s criminal justice system. I decided
to concentrate in crime control policy at UWM because I want to gain a greater
understanding of how Wisconsin and other American states can begin to create
criminal justice systems that will be fairer, more effective, and more
efficient in the coming years.
My experience in the prison system
of Wisconsin also inspired me to begin working with an organization that focuses
on criminal justice reform in the state. Since 2013, I have served as a member
of WISDOM/MICAH’s 11x15 Campaign Task Force. The 11x15 Campaign for Safer,
Healthier Communities aims to reduce Wisconsin's prison population by half - to
11,000 - by the end of the year 2015. The campaign has called attention to the
waste, injustice, and ineffectiveness of Wisconsin's mass incarceration,
especially of low-income people and people of color. The group recently held a
press conference in Milwaukee to raise public awareness of the state’s unjust
revocation policies. In the coming months, members of the campaign will work to
- increase funding for treatment alternatives and diversions;
- reform sentencing laws;
- reform policies affecting those currently in prison; and
- remove barriers to successful re-entry for people coming home from jail or prison.
Although I occasionally behaved in a
disorderly manner while experiencing symptoms of mental illness over the past
six years, I have been able to stay in the community. During this time, I
earned two master’s degrees and worked for several nonprofit organizations. My
case demonstrates the potential of rehabilitation programs. Several
psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors helped me to reach the level of
functioning that I am at today. In the future, I would like to work as a
professor at a research university while continuing to serve nonprofit agencies
that focus on penal system reform and other issues that I care about.
