The Voices Of Power WI

10/12/2026

We're excited to invite you to ECHO: Bridging the Gap on November 11th!

Over the past year, we've been working to create real opportunities for healing, accountability, and personal growth inside Wisconsin's prisons. We've seen firsthand what can happen when people are given the space to be heard, challenged, and supported.

Now we want to share that work with you.

Join us for an evening of good conversations, real experiences, and a chance to learn how you can help us keep ECHO moving forward.

We can't do this work alone, and we'd love to have you in the room.

Check out the event below and come be part of the conversation!

The Voices of Power

10/05/2026

So thankful for the work they're doing at the Wisconsin Examiner

A program on reentry for men in prison is created and led by people of color who have been incarcerated themselves.

09/17/2026

Last week, we talked about how Wisconsin built its way into an overcrowded prison system. But the buildings are only part of the story.

We didn't only build prisons. We built a system around them - sentencing laws, supervision rules, revocation processes, release structures, and policies that determine how people move into and back into prison.

In July 2026, Wisconsin prisons recorded 773 admissions and 558 releases - 215 more people coming in than going out.

Of those admissions, 292 were new-sentence-only, 107 involved a revocation and a new sentence, and 360 - 46.6% - were classified by Wisconsin DOC as "Revocation-No New Sentence."

That matters because not every return to prison starts with a new sentence. For people on community supervision, violations can lead to revocation and a return to custody. "Revocation-No New Sentence" means no new sentence was associated with that admission; it does not necessarily mean there was no alleged criminal behavior.

We didn't build our prison population only through courtroom sentences. How people move back through the system matters too.

Wisconsin's prison population is the result of thousands of personal, courtroom, supervision, and policy decisions. We have to look at the policies that determine who goes to prison, how long they stay, what happens after release, and how easily they can be sent back.

People do change. People mature. People learn. People can take responsibility for bad decisions and still become better human beings.

That doesn't erase accountability. That IS accountability - owning what you did, understanding what got you there, and doing the work so you don't keep repeating it.

We built our way into this. Now we have to be willing to build a different way forward.

That is what ECHO: Bridging the Gap is about. Our campaign is raising $75,000 to bring ECHO back to Racine Correctional Institution for a full year.

Because change doesn't just happen. We have to build our way toward it too.

09/07/2026

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

A few days ago, we talked about what we mean when we say Bridging the Gap.

We talked about a Wisconsin prison system holding more people than it was designed for. We talked about the need to bring people with lived experience into the rooms where decisions are being made. And we talked about why doing more of the same isn't going to give us different results.

But there is another question we need to ask: How did we get here in the first place?

Wisconsin's prison population didn't grow to more than 23,000 people overnight.

It happened over decades.

More prisons were built. Sentencing laws changed. Parole was eliminated for new felony sentences. People were sent back to prison for supervision violations. And when Wisconsin ran out of room, we even started sending people to prisons outside the state.

Those were decisions.
And decisions have consequences.

Over the next several weeks, as we continue ECHO: Bridging the Gap, we're going to look at some of the decisions that helped create the system we have today.

Not to live in the past.

But because if we're serious about changing where we're going, we need to understand how we got here.

Next up: Wisconsin started building. And building. And building.

09/03/2026

What is: BRIDGING THE GAP

Wisconsin has more people sitting in prison today than at any other time in our state’s history. As of August 28, 2026, there were 23,854 people incarcerated in Wisconsin’s adult correctional system. The system was designed for 17,867. Racine Correctional Institution alone was built for 1,171 people and is currently holding more than 1,800.

At some point, we have to stop acting like doing more of the same is going to get us somewhere different.

For years, people who have actually lived through incarceration have been talked about, studied, evaluated, and brought into conversations after most of the decisions have already been made. We get asked to tell our stories. We get invited to sit on panels. Sometimes we get asked what we think. (eye roll)

But too often, we are still not in the rooms where the real decisions are being made. That has to change.

People who have been impacted by the system understand things about incarceration that cannot be learned from a textbook, a policy manual, or an office outside the institution. We know what isolation does to a person. We know what institutionalization looks like. We know what it feels like to lose hope, lose trust, and start believing that survival is the only thing that matters.

We also know what it takes to reach somebody who is in that place.

That is why we created ECHO — Every Choice Holds an Opportunity.

ECHO was designed by people who have lived this experience. Not because lived experience makes us the only people with answers, but because it gives us an understanding that the system simply cannot create for itself.

That matters.

Wisconsin DOC reports that among people released in fiscal year 2021, within three years 52.8% were rearrested, 36.7% were reconvicted, and 33.1% were reincarcerated. Those are disgusting numbers!

At the same time, research around mentoring and peer support continues to show something we already know from experience: people do better when they have somebody walking with them who understands where they have been. One major reentry initiative found that participants who worked with mentors were 35% less likely to return to prison for a new offense within one year than those who did not receive mentoring.

That is what we mean when we talk about bridging the gap.

The gap between programming and real connection.

The gap between incarceration and healing.

The gap between people making decisions about us and people making decisions with us.

And the gap between knowing that something is wrong and actually being willing to try something different.

At a time when Wisconsin has the highest prison population in its history, we cannot afford to keep leaving impacted people outside the conversation.

We are not saying we have every answer. We are saying we are part of the answer.

And programs like ECHO show what can happen when people who have lived through the system are given the opportunity to come back into that system with something different to offer.

If this mission speaks to you, help us move it forward by sharing the campaign or giving a donation.

DONATE: https://givebutter.com/echo-bridging-the-gap-zgkcl8

09/01/2026

Today we are launching ECHO: Bridging the Gap. From now through November 12, our goal is to raise $75,000 to fund one full year of ECHO at Racine Correctional Institution.
This is not about asking people to fund an idea that has never been tested. We completed our first ECHO pilot at Racine. Eleven participants completed the program, and the experience showed us what is possible when people have a space built around honesty, accountability, healing, and opportunity. It also taught us what we need to strengthen as we move forward.

The pilot gave us proof. Now we need the resources to keep showing up.

$75,000. One institution. One full year of ECHO.

Over the next several weeks, we will share what ECHO is, what we learned at Racine, what a full year makes possible, and how students and community partners are helping us build the future of this work. You can support the campaign by giving, sharing our posts, making a funder introduction, or connecting us with someone who should know about ECHO.

Help us bridge the gap.

06/24/2026

LATE POST BUT WELL WORTH IT.

One of the highlights of being at the Wisconsin Peer Recovery Conference was watching 12 UW–Madison psychology students step onto a stage in front of 700+ people and absolutely knock it out the box.

When this partnership began, some of these students had never been inside a correctional institution, never worked alongside people with lived experience of incarceration, and certainly never imagined they'd be presenting at a statewide conference on such an important stage.

Yet there they were—sharing what they had learned, talking about the power of peer support, and helping tell the story of what can happen when research and lived experience come together.

I know they were nervous. There always are when you step outside your comfort zone. The look on their faces when they heard what their final project was going to be. LOL But every one of them showed up and showed out.

Aaron and I could not have been more proud.

The future of this work depends on creating strategic opportunities for students to learn directly from communities, not just textbooks. These students embraced that challenge, and the result was something special.

Thank you all for your hard work, your willingness to learn, and for helping bring the "Best of Both Worlds" to life.

11/17/2025

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

A new chapter begins in West Philly!

Ardella’s House West opens its doors to empower women returning from prison — providing hope, housing, and a fresh start.

"We’re proud to welcome Ardella’s House West into the SAFE Housing Network, expanding our shared mission to provide women with safety, stability, and the tools to thrive,” said Susan Burton.

“Every year, nearly 43,000 women return home from Pennsylvania’s jails and prisons, a powerful reminder of the urgent need for safe, supportive housing. Ardella’s will provide women with the housing and support they need to rebuild their lives and break the cycle of incarceration."

Link to full story in Bio.








’sHouse



’sUniversity
.

’sAct