Experts say he’s right.
“It’s absolutely true that over half the prison population is there for violent offenses,” said Michelle Phelps, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. “It’s going to be difficult to cut the prison population in half — even dramatically — without talking about violent offenses.”
The state could halve the number of people entering into prisons every year by keeping nonviolent offenders out of prison, but could not cut the prison population itself in half, said John Pfaff, a criminal law professor at Fordham University who reviewed Wisconsin’s prison admissions and population.
The complete story here > AP FACT CHECK: Walker right on Wisconsin prison population