MILWAUKEE – Today, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors’ Committee on Finance voted to amend County 
Executive David Crowley’s recommended 2024 budget to include funding for a third-party audit of the Milwaukee County Jail (MCJ), to examine the jail’s operations, policies, and procedures, in the interest of abating in-custody deaths.
MCSO has consistently demonstrated transparency and a willingness to answer tough questions about the operation of the MCJ – most recently in the form of a lengthy report requested by the Milwaukee County Board, drafted by this agency under the guidance of the Milwaukee County Office of Corporation Counsel, and recently submitted to the Board. The report addressed, among other matters:
• Best practices in policy development through an ongoing overhaul of the agency’s
policies and procedures through Lexipol, the leading provider of law enforcement and
corrections policies and training,
• External monitoring of the MCJ by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the ACLU
of Wisconsin, the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Inc., the National Commission on
Correctional Health Care Resources (NRI), the National Commission on Correctional
Healthcare (NCCHC) and the United States Marshal’s Service
• Ongoing staffing challenges, which impact the operation of the jail, including a Correctional
Officer vacancy rate of about 40 percent,
• Budgetary constraints that impact MCSO’s ability to compete with comparable agencies to hire and retain workers, and MCSO’s ability to employ safety-oriented technological and structural improvements, “As the sheriff of Milwaukee County, whose agency operates the county’s primary pre-trial detention facility, it has always been my position that one death in custody is one too many,” said Sheriff Denita Ball. “The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office has cooperated with other reviews and will cooperate with this audit. And should it be adopted by the full board, we encourage the Board to act quickly to begin and complete this process, as we share a desire to always improve the safety and efficiency of the Milwaukee County Jail.”
