A new report, commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance and researched by Justice Strategies, found that Wisconsin could reduce its nonviolent prison population by up to 1,500 prisoners and create annual savings of $43 million by expanding the availability of quality treatment, supervision and "wrap-around" services for nonviolent drug offenders.
 
The number of prisoners in Wisconsin has doubled in the past decade, largely due to increased incarceration for nonviolent offenses. The report found that a comprehensive Treatment Instead of Prison (TIP) initiative would help to avoid increasing prison population pressures in coming years, provided it is funded by a substantial investment of tax dollars.
 
Changing Wisconsin's approach to dealing with people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses would also help to rectify the racism that accompanies the state's incarceration policies. Currently, African Americans in Wisconsin are imprisoned at nearly forty times the rate of non-Hispanic whites.

The Alliance has worked on this issue in Wisconsin in the past, and is now supporting local efforts via the report and through support of the Wisdom Coalition, a group working for TIP legislation in Wisconsin.