Judge sides with ACLU, Wisconsin families

Friend –

Breaking! Today, a Dane County Circuit Court judge ruled that the state Department of Corrections (DOC) must allow participation in the Mother Young program for mothers incarcerated or under community supervision who are eligible.

This is a massive victory for justice-impacted mothers and families in Wisconsin!

In June 2024, we petitioned a Dane County Circuit Court to order that the DOC offer incarcerated mothers the opportunity to participate in a program that would allow them to continue parenting children under the age of one with special accommodations and programming.

For more than 30 years, a long-overlooked state statute – referred to as the "mother-young child care program" <[link removed]> – required the DOC to provide this programming that, among other things, allows pregnant and postpartum individuals who are incarcerated or on supervised release to retain physical custody of their infants and be held in the least restrictive custody possible.

The DOC does not currently offer this program to any incarcerated person, and officials wrongly argued that the agency doesn't need to follow the law because it is an “old statute and there is no funding for it.”

In denying parents this opportunity, we knew the DOC was violating the law and depriving parents and their young children of a chance to build strong relationships and keep their families together, which is proven to have mutual benefits for both child and parent.

So we went to court and are so pleased to report that the court sided with us and impacted mothers in this state and will provide relief to not only our clients but all eligible mothers who are incarcerated and on community supervision.

The separation of families is one of the most debilitating and traumatizing aspects of the criminal legal system.

Supportive family relationships can promote psychological and physiological health for incarcerated people and their loved ones. Serving families at this most critical period simply makes communities healthier.

We won't stop fighting to keep justice-impacted families together.

Ryan Cox
Pronouns: He, him, his
Legal Director, ACLU of Wisconsin


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