Someone call the waaaaambulance for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke…
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. lost his court challenge Wednesday over whether he can retain control of the House of Correction in Franklin.
But a shift of control to a superintendent appointed by County Executive Chris Abele could still be on hold for some time. Clarke said the ruling would be appealed, claiming bias by the judge.
“Because I have been outspoken on judicial leniency in Milwaukee County, I will not get judicial impartiality at this level,” Clarke said in a statement.
Circuit Judge Paul Van Grunsven ruled that the County Board can decide whether the lockup is a correctional facility or a jail. That was a key point in the litigation. The judge sided with the board that the place has been a house of correction since it was established in 1865 and has continued under that designation.
Here’s what I consider to be the money quote from Judge Paul Van Grunsven’s ruling:
“When Clarke assumed management of the House of Correction, he renamed it; not as a jail, but as the County Correctional Facility-South,” the ruling says. “Clarke knew or should have known what he was given to manage was a house of correction; not a jail.”
Sheriff Clarke is absolutely right that he’s responsible for the Milwaukee County Jail, but his logic that the former House of Correction was somehow transformed from a House of Correction to a jail that would fall under the Sheriff’s exclusive purview is fatally flawed.
Current state law is unambiguous when it comes to the responsibility for the establishment and administration of a county House of Correction. According to section 303.16 of state statutes, “The county board of any county may, pursuant to s. 301.37, establish, relocate and maintain within the county a house of correction for the reformation and employment of persons sentenced to confinement therein.” Administration of a House of Correction also falls to a County Board, as outlined in statute 303.17 (1), which states, “The county board of supervisors shall control the management of a house of correction under s. 303.16, pursuant to such regulations and under the direct supervision and control of such officers as the county board of supervisors prescribes.”
It’s clear to anyone with half a brain that Sheriff David Clarke’s cries of judicial bias are nothing more than a ploy to distract from the fact that his lawsuit to keep control of the Milwaukee County House of Corrections is not only baseless, but frivolous as well.
Why don’t the politicians just do their own jobs and leave the policing to those that are trained and paid to do it!!!!!