The Wisconsin Magazine; 708

[WPT theme music] The key issue when you hit bottom line is that nobody wants a hazardous waste site. Nobody. [Unclear] told me that on prisons. Nobody will want a prison. Not true. What to do about toxic waste. A report on the politics of poison on tonight's Magazine. The Wisconsin Magazine for November 20th. Reporting from Madison Good evening welcome to this week's program. Tonight's Magazine includes a report about a unique club. Its members have life memberships but not by choice. The club was formed by prisoners serving life sentences at Waupan Correctional Institute. Our story tonight is about that club and what it means to spend a lifetime in prison. A Point of View segment this week also goes behind bars. At issue kids and corrections, a proposed change in the state's juvenile code would allow minors to be sentenced to jail. We'll hear an

opposing viewpoint tonight. And we'll wrap up this week's program with that report on toxic waste. Art Hackett will review the paperwork and politics of poison. Every so often we hear calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Capital punishment proponents now have an old ally in a powerful new position. Senator Strom Thurmond who will soon become the chairman of the Senate's Judiciary Committee is among those who wants to bring back the electric chair nationwide. For now at least Wisconsin remains one state where life imprisonment is the worst sentence a man can receive no matter the crime. How severe a sentence is life. Well you're about to hear a few answers from some of Wisconsin's nearly 200 inmates now serving life terms. At Waupan Correctional Institute where most of Wisconsin's lifers are in prison many inmates belong to a self-help organization called the Lifers Group. Magazine's Mark Weller visited Waupan to find out more about that group and what it means to spend life in prison. The conviction of a life sentence that means I'm here from now on. My

family, my friends, and everybody in the open society where I was born and raised. I have been exiled from that. That is the greatest horror in the world. It's a warehouse. We're thrown away. We're here. There's no rehabilitation. There's no... nothing we can do to help ourselves get out. There's no place [unclear] we change and if we help ourselve and make something out of ourselves nobody is going to recognize it. I came here when I was 19 years old and I've been here for nine years. The problem I have of course is trying to maintain some sort of healthy personal identitya aside from the institution. And at same thing deal with the institution and that's very difficult. Douglas Dean is a lifer. In 1971 he killed his girlfriend's mother and her three sons. He also killed his own mother. Dean said he didn't know what he was doing because he had taken LSD prior to the killings. The court didn't believe him and found him guilty of five counts of first degree murder. That

translates into five life sentences. Life in Wisconsin is the most severe sentence that a man has to do deal with and that carries a lot of consequences with it. You're away from your family the longest of any prisoner. There are severe sanctions that have to be paid in terms of stereotypes the public has about a lifer. And your on eternal supervision even after you leave here. Douglas Dean is not alone here. There are about 160 other men who have been sentenced to life. Nearly half are minorities. According to Wisconsin law the only crime that carries a life sentence is first degree murder and there are forty seven lifers who didn't actually pull the trigger but were involved enough with the killings that the courts convicted them of murder and ended on a life sentence. Prison officials indicate there are 20 percent more lifers here this year than last. You have a family and people out here to care about you for a while but... After a while you is like somebody has died buried in a graveyard somewhere and maybe on Memorial Day or somethinging they come out,

plant some flowers on the grave. Or every now and then they remember you [unclear] pictures something that you took a long time ago but like they don't really relate to you know as as a person anymore. You know your identity is sort of stripped away. It's like it's like society has sort of thrown me away or something. During the day those lifers fortunate enough to find jobs are kept busy making license plates or washing dishes in the kitchen. But eventually it's back to the cell block where the lifers face loneliness, frustration, and boredom. I jokingly call my cell my coffin you know because I feel like that a lot. Like they gave me life in prison you know but ah in effect it's just like having a death sentence. I've been here for eight years now. Duing that period you know it seemed like everybody that I knew when I came to prison even my kids, my wife. They seem to forget that I'm alive, you know. I'm just

here. Somebody that they knew at one time or another, you know. I think that's the hardest part of ah doing this kind of time. Doing hard time sets the lifers apart from the other prisoners. Lifers reality is certainly different from yours or mine. But even when compared to the other inmates the lifer occupies a special place in prison society. A lifer he tends to be a lot different than other prisoners because he has a very very serious sentence. So in having a serious sentence he has to address it seriously. He has to be more serious in the way he carries hisself, way he conducts hisself in the institution and he can't play games and act like other conflicts around the joint, you know. He has to be own man because he's going to be here a long long time. An extremely long time. So sensing a common problem the lifers formed an organization called simply enough the Lifers Group. President of the Lifers Group, Weed[?] Harris.

OK well in 1972 the Lifers Group was was officially sanctioned by the administration and the reason why we actually thought of the concept of a Lifers Group because at that time lifers were the lowest individuals on the totem pole in the prison community. Before the Lifers Group was formed, what as this place like? [Unclear] Lifers Group was formed this place looked like a graveyard. They were facing job problems. There were no jobs, they were facing the opportunities for advanced education. They were faced with the problem of being transferred to a different camp. There was no physical examination And all of these things. Basic things that your average individual had access to [unclear]. I guess the bottom line was why waste money on a lifer. From the beginning the group established itself in a highly organized manner. Its goal was to promote legislation and

correctional programs that will benefit the lifers. Problems like overcrowding was high on the list of complaints. But the key word in the group is organization. You know, we studied beaurocracy. We understand the system how it's set up. We understand we have a life sentence situation. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain so when we say let's gain, let's gain in the proper manner. So what we do we keep files. Other groups want things at the spur of the moment. We believe in long-range goals. Over the years the Lifers Group has sponsored a the number of projects that have had a direct influence on prison life. The Lifers Group started to sell canned goods to supplement the institution's food program. They also run a photography department that takes pictures of the inmates and then sells them the photos. Not only do these projects help the inmates, it also provides them with a

profit. One of the areas where the money goes to is a program for the children who visit the prison. The toy project. Well now that began because we saw a need in the visiting room where children of the residents would come up to visit and they were didn't have anything to do. They just sat around all during the whole four hour visiting period. So we decided to ask the institution if they would allow us to purchase some toys to give the kids an outlet for their energy in the visiting room. [unclear] that's what we did. Surprisingly enough the Lifers Group has not confined themselves to projects only inside the prison walls. A while back they saw a need to help those people on the outside who are blind so they obtained some special typewriters and now transcribe items like restaurant menus into Braille. [unclear]

...[receive?] cartoons or statements that we can send down to the Benefits Center. Hopefully get turned in to pamphlets to use on [unclear]. Sitting in at your meeting I couldn't help but get the feeling that if you would put three piece suits and you guys and moved it out of that room into a corporate boardroom, you people could easily pass as IBM executive types. Well I mean that's the kind of individuals you have. You know, we now function under what we call a constitutional [unclear]. You know, we have guys that specialized in proposal writing. We have guys that specialized in psychology. We got guys that specialized in entertainment. You know, we got a diversity of talents. You know, that if we were in the street we could function as a corporation. The people who belong to the Lifers Group are proud of their accomplishments what they've done for themselves and what they've done for the people around them. We met this fellow earlier in this report. Douglas Dean remember? He was the guy who killed five people

and won't be eligible for parole until he becomes 76. I've received my bachelor's degrees from the University of Minnesota since I've been here. I'm presently working on a master's degree and I have some hopes that I might be able to pursue a Ph.D. in the future. All that was made possible by assistance from the Lifers Group. Dean says that's a good example of what the group is all about. Both the lifers group and prison officials cooperated in the filming of that story but not surprisingly they don't always agree with each other. The Lifers Group in fact is currently suing prison officials for what they consider to be overcrowded conditions at Waupan. Our Point of View tonight looks at another corrections issue: whether or not juveniles should serve time in

county jails. Under current state law juveniles can only be held in jail before a trial begins. They can't be sentenced to actual jail terms except in unusual circumstances. But at least one Wisconsin legislator is preparing a bill that would change that. State Senator Paul Aufner of La Crosse is drafting legislation that would allow judges to sentence kids to county jails. That legislation is opposed by the Youth Policy and Law Center, a youth advocacy group headquartered in Madison. On tonight's Point of View segment Center Associate Director Peter Plante argues that what juveniles learn in jail is bad for kids and bad for the community. Most things that happen to kids in jails are bad and they simply compound an already existing problem. Jails were never set up to receive children in them and unfortunately thousands and thousands of children a year are placed in them. There are no programs there's very little supervision in many jails, there is no medical programs in some jails, there's no

education. Most recreation is passive. All of the things you don't want to do with kids happen in jail. Juvenile suicide rate in adult jails is seven times higher than a separate juvenile facility. There are numerous documented cases throughout Wisconsin and the nation of juvenile suicides, suicide attempts, rapes, beatings, psychotic episodes, severe depression resulting in isolation and sensory deprivation. Many many of the mental illnesses begin in jail. Depression, psychotic experiences that can be traced back to a jail experience. There's no education. Many kids lose track of their education while in jail. And many of the kids find themselves going inside jails are kids with exceptional educational needs who are the ones we want to spend more time with in educational situations not less. The alternatives to incarceration are many. They've been tested throughout this country. There are many in Wisconsin that are working.

What it takes though is some commitment to put them in place. Too often, unfortunately, the reason that kids continue to be placed in jail has nothing to do with crime, has nothing to do with their attitude toward kids. It has a lot to do with our attitude toward taxes. And we're interested in hearing your point of view to participate. Contact us here at the Wisconsin Magazine. I'll give you the address in just a moment. Time now though for a response to one of our stories on last week's Magazine. Baraboo a part time teacher Helen Salusa and her husband have taught school for over 20 years. She says contractual problems in Baraboo are adding to the teacher dropout problem we reported on last week's Magazine. Here's some of what she had to say. We enjoy working with young people but the past few years the rewards are fewer and the frustrations ever increasing. The morale of all teachers is at a low ebb and many good teachers are seriously thinking of leaving our system and perhaps the teaching profession. I don't like to feel like a second class

citizen and that our service to our community means nothing. And if you'd like to participate in our Point of View segment or just want to let us know what you think of our program you can do that by writing us here at the Wisconsin magazine. 8 21 University Avenue Madison Wisconsin 5 3 7 0 6. That address again the Wisconsin Magazine 8 21 University Avenue in Madison Wisconsin. 5 3 7 0 6. Finally tonight we're going to have a report about something you've probably been reading about the last few days. Wisconsin newspapers have been filled with articles about a new law that effects how states dispose of toxic waste, something our culture generates thousands of tons of each day. Like it or not toxic waste is inevitable if we want cars that don't rust, clothes that don't wrinkle, and fast food that comes in containers more impressive than the contents themselves. The new law that took effect yesterday is supposed to make sure that toxic waste are properly stored or destroyed. The problem in Wisconsin though is where are you going to do that?

Due to a recent court decision the state no longer has the power to establish new toxic waste disposal sites. So there are in fact two problems with toxic waste: complying with all the paperwork the new law demands and a legislative nightmare of convincing communities to harbor toxic waste in their backyards. Art Hackett reports tonight on the politics of poison. This is what isn't supposed to happen. Barrels of the DNR ordered removed from the junk yard in [audio cut off] turned up on a sandbar near the Mississippi River instead of a licensed site in Minnesota. Some of the barrels have liquid in them. Many of the barrels have very little material in them. It may have leaked out of them. Some of the soils has a solvent type oder to it. How much leaked out we don't know for sure. But some of the materials did have that that order to it. The liquid turned out to be a cancer causing cleaning solvent. The sandbars owner claims he

thought the barrels contained only trash. A court will decide who is responsible. A new law that's now in effect may help solve situations like this. It requires shipping papers called manifests. They say how much of what the creator of the waste gave to whom, who took it where, who did what with it. Everyone gets a copy. The gold one goes to the DNR. It's called cradle to grave. The graves are supposed to be approved hazardous waste sites. The problem with these cemeteries is like a bad novel. There's a shortage of clocks. The site just outside of Menomonee Falls is one of three main places in the state where hazardous waste can legally be disposed of. It's operated by Waste Management of Wisconsin a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. They're sort of the General Motors of the waste disposal industry in America. When we started work on the story several months ago the big question was how many more sites like this is the state going to need. As of today nobody's real sure.

The best guess is three or four. But right now no one knows for sure how much waste is out there and where in the state it is. And those new sites won't come cheap. They require labs to make sure the waste is what it's claimed to be. And a special equipment to handle the toxic waste safely. And they need and this is the tough one a place to be. When you talk about hazardous waste do you have any idea what exactly that means. Well I would assume chemicals being dumped over there, um poisons and so on. I'm not really aware of it. First thing alls I knew that they were dumping over there was garbage. It concerns me. I'm afraid of any potential dangers that could happen in the future. I've got a little girl and myself you know. I had the water checked. So right now I'm not scared. Cindy McNeil is a neighbor of another waste management facility at Franklin. It takes waste

water containing solvents such as [unclear] and [unclear] and various acids as well as waste streams containing heavy metals such as cadmium. Waste Management uses the site for less hazardous waste. All agree they do a far better job of running a landfill than did the previous owners. But people still worried. I have seen that list before but this is the first time it brought to my attention just exactly what's going in there like kerosene and tannery waste and everything else. Now that it's been called to your attention do you feel any differently more worried, less worried? I sure do because I live out here and I got a well out here that could be contaminated. My whole life is stuck in his house here. This piece of property. Nobody, no township is going to want to accept the industrial poisons of the state of Wisconsin in their township. And I don't think there's any carrot that can be invented that will make them pressed to their breasts to half a million tons of poisons in this state.

So I think a citizens board made up of a good cross-section of people from local government is politically much more palatable to me. A legislative taskforce is now searching for ways to make toxic wastes acceptable if not lovable. It's chaired by Assemblywoman Mary Lou Motts. The kinds of incentives that are being talked about are things that they've looked at in other states like we do with utilities some kind of tax break for people. Some kind of assistance to them to be part of the process. The key issue when you hit the bottom line is that nobody wants a hazardous waste site. Nobody. And when we talk about citizen participation we're really talking about mechanisms to coalesce the opposition to a site. That's what we're really talking about. Remember they told me that on prisons. Nobody will want a prison. Not true. I think we're getting into a situation now where this business of local taxes getting to be a very real problem and if in effect you can say here is where we can

provide a secure environmentally safe method of handling landfill to handle toxic waste and in return here is what you're going to get. I think that's an incentive that will be looked at. But the delays caused by the politics of poison may affect the degree of change the new law will bring about. Those new sites won't be available for at least five years. But the waste is here now. In the meantime it will have to go to so-called interim sites. Those will be existing sanitary landfills. The DNR's hazardous waste section chief Jack Thorson admits there's still a lot of work to be done. Our particular approach in this state will be to prioritize the issuance in terms of large commercially available facilities will be high on the list and also the sites that have the greatest potential for polluting the environment will be addressed. But those site reviews will be added to the hundreds of permit applications and growing thousands of shipping papers. That's something that worries environmental groups like Milwaukee's Citizens for a Better

Environment. Their attorney is Tom Crawford. I think the state is probably understaffed in its ability to review And force the upgrading of existing solid and hazardous waste sites. Our initial indications were that we would have three to four hundred people that would need a EPA style license for treating, storing or disposing. We've recently come up with a new estimate that will need approximately 700. The DNR hopes to add eight people to do this work paid for with federal funds. But what happens if Ronald Reagan for instance comes in and says there's a hiring freeze just as the EPA started to crank up on this. Well then they're going to have to do something less than they're now doing. You see you make an assumption when you ask that question that everything they're doing is of the same importance and equal importance and therefore if we want to do this activity we must add people. You know that's the old bureaucratic line always. In the case of Prairie du Chien enforcement was difficult even with the less complicated old

law Since there always seem to be firms seeking an easy way out. Seems like if you had trouble monitoring the present regulations aren't more regulations going to be even... Well the additional regulations require the use of a shipping paper. If that manifest system was implemented at that point in time we would have had a much better idea assuming they legally used it and properly used it. But all the material did not get to the [unclear]. But dependence on the manifests as a potential hazard in the case of another loophole in the law. The Environmental Protection Agency in drafting the rules admitted that it couldn't police everybody. Despite waste industry objections it's allowing firms that produce less than 1000 kilograms or twenty two hundred pounds a month to skip the paperwork for now in the case of two hundred thirty nine substances deemed not to be acutely hazardous That list includes the banned pesticide DDT and the herbicide 245T one of the ingredients of Agent Orange. Use of 2 4 5 t has

been suspended until it can be determined if it might contain dioxin which has been linked to birth defects. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's district one at Madison is one of many users are stuck with the compound in the mean time. The people at the Department of Transportation appear to be good citizens. They're spending a lot of time and effort trying to find a landfill that's willing to accept the potentially hazardous herbicide. But the two hundreds or so gallons that are stored here are less than the 1000 kilograms that requires the manifest. Now remember the manifest is the document that makes the whole toxic waste control program work. Without that manifest it's much more difficult for the DNR to keep track of firms who unlike the DOT are willing to try and sneak waste into unsuspecting landfills, something that happens even at well-run facilities like the one at Menominee Falls. Barrels are often hidden in truckloads of garbage and trash. If they are discovered they're sorted for safe disposal. The rubbish industry in general has always had to struggle with generators to handle that material

properly. The generators always had it in his mind that all he had to do was give it to the rubbish haul and that was out of sight out of mind. At the last minute the DNR board decided to require annual reports at the end of the year from small operators but three of the four states surrounding Wisconsin have gone a step further and tightened their rules to require shipping papers for even a single drum something he feels was important. Well I hope programs developed on the concept that we can't deal with anything unless we know what it is and what potential hazards are involved with that either through it during transport or in the disposal operation. I don't believe anybody else can operate unless they know what they're handling. Wisconsin meanwhile is hoping for a voluntary manifesting of small loads and hoping that the small amounts will be soaked up by the rest of the refuse that's something Waste Management's attorney is skeptical of. Unfortunately the material is not going to be going to Wyoming or Idaho or to the Marianas or to Samoa or to any of the other smaller less populated

states. It's going to be going to those landfills that are close to industrialize there is there going to be receiving the bulk of it. These arguments may sound strong but the state and federal officials have all heard them many times before. They feel right now they're coping as best they can given the politics of poison. And regardless of the problems involved with the law even critics agree that the new rules represent a giant step forward. The problem isn't how far we've come it's how far we still have to go. We'll be off the air next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Two weeks from tonight will return with a report on job stress in the typical hospital emergency room. And we'll also have a story about one way ethnic identities are maintained through food. And later in the month of December by the way we'll have a report on housing conditions for retarded people in Wisconsin and we'll also take a look at what the state of Wisconsin is doing about the problem of drunk driving. Those stories coming up in the month of December on the

Wisconsin magazine. I'm Dave Iverson. Good night.