Author: Sam Buisman
Dane County sees seeds of change planted in its policing, prisons and schools by protests for George Floyd.
In separate statements released throughout Tuesday, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway urged for prisoners infected with COVID-19 to be moved out of jails and into hospitals, the Dane County Board unveiled a review plan for criminal justice reform, and Madison School Board President Gloria Reyes announced that the board will begin considering strategies for removing police from Madison schools.
All three of these statements indicated that their decisions were in part driven by the city's campaign of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black Minnesotan, by a white former Minneapolis police officer.
In their statement, the Dane County Board said that the past two weeks has mandated a reckoning for all persons in positions of power.
“As the county, state, nation, and world experience the pain and destruction of the last weeks,” wrote County Board Chair Analiese Eicher in a press release, “The County Board calls on the community and all local elected officials to learn, reflect and reform.”
Regarding prison reform, Mayor Rhodes-Conway wrote a letter to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, cosigned by eight members of the Madison Common Council, asking for prisoners diagnosed with COVID-19 to be moved to a hospital for quarantine and treatment.
In the letter, the Mayor makes it clear that the events surrounding George Floyd motivated this decision.
“While it is a difficult and unprecedented time in our country,” wrote Mayor Rhodes-Conway, “we know that the racial injustices that have been magnified once again by attention surrounding the death of George Floyd are not new.”
On criminal justice reform, the Dane County Board unveiled five actions it plans to take over the coming months to work towards a more equitable justice system, including reviewing Dane County's bail policies, reducing fines that encumber low-income families, and a county-wide review of use-of-force policies used by the police departments of Dane County cities.
Lastly, according to Channel3000, Madison School Board President Gloria Reyes released a statement revealing that the board is considering both removing School Resource Officers from Madison schools and terminating its contract with the Madison Police Department.
WSUM will continue to follow this story and issue updates as they emerge.