MADISON – Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong told potential voters in recent weeks she ideally wants a world without prisons, a comment her campaign said referred to her goal of government addressing societal factors that lead to crime.
Hong, who is leading the Democratic primary field in recent statewide polls among decided voters, is running as a democratic socialist and has come under scrutiny ahead of the Aug. 11 primary election for her views on incarceration and policing, including backing the idea of defunding and abolishing police departments.
On May 16, Hong was asked by a member of a crowd gathered by the Taylor County Democratic Party what she would do in an “ideal world” to handle criminal offenders and to curb recidivism.
“I think that my perfect world would be a world without prisons, right, because we all see the humanity in one another and then we know nobody’s disposable,” Hong told the crowd, according to audio obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Hong told the crowd she would want to see more funding to pay mental health workers in prisons to stay competitive with private practice, help offenders get education degrees and job training, and to create community gathering spaces that help keep children distracted from nefarious activities.
“We have to be investing actually in the ways that people who are incarcerated … what life afterwards could look like.”
When asked about the comments, a spokeswoman for Hong said, “A world where needs are met and there’s no need for prisons sounds like a goal worth working towards.”
The spokeswoman did not respond to how Hong would handle people who choose to commit crimes even when needs are met.
Ann Jacobs, a prominent Democrat from Milwaukee who leads the state’s bipartisan elections commission, responded Thursday to Hong’s views, saying on X, “Rich people beat their wives. Kiddie porn isn’t due to economic instability. Child (sexual assault) isn’t due to a lack of afterschool programs. I could go on.”
Hong addresses public safety issues in social media video
Hong on Thursday also posted a video on social media that she filmed of herself talking straight to a camera about the issue of public safety as she navigates questions about her positions.
“Everyone in Wisconsin deserves to be safe. Safe from crime, safe in their communities, in their homes, safe from abuses of power, and safe from the conditions that make communities unsafe in the first place,” she said in the video.
“Poverty, a lack of good jobs with good benefits, a lack of affordable housing, underfunded schools, and underfunded out-of-school programs for our kids. Right now, Wisconsin isn’t delivering that.”
Hong said while the state’s crime rates are falling, prison populations are climbing. She noted the cost of incarcerating offenders who need treatment and the state’s distinction of incarcerating the highest percentage of Black residents in the nation.
She said Republicans who have controlled the state Legislature since 2011 should be sending more funding to local governments to free up money for anti-violence efforts.
“I don’t like crime. I don’t like unsafe streets. I don’t like when someone in law enforcement abuses their power. And there’s no way I’m going to cut public safety. I want to deliver it. That means investing in what the evidence shows prevents crime,” she said.
“Affordable housing for everyone, mental health care, addiction treatment resources, good jobs with good benefits, and fully funded public schools. That’s not soft on crime. That’s serious about safety.”
Hong under scrutiny for past remarks about defunding police
Hong has come under scrutiny for repeatedly calling for eliminating and defunding police departments. In 2020, Hong posted on social media that she supported “defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police,” for example. When asked about her past comments by CNN reporters, Hong did not disavow them as some in her party have done since 2020.
“While I envision a world where public safety is not synonymous with law enforcement, I recognize that this paradigm shift is a very long-term vision and my focus is building systems of care for now and for our future,” Hong told CNN when asked if she still supports abolishing police.
The most recent polling by the Marquette University Law School on policing and incarceration shows most Wisconsin voters in those surveys support sending more funds to law enforcement and keeping inmates in prisons for most of their sentences.
Marquette polling from 2022, the most recent data available, shows 78% of those surveyed that year favored more state funding for police while 15% opposed routing more money to law enforcement. The support spanned all ideologies.
On incarceration, an April 2019 poll showed 55% of Wisconsin voters surveyed agreed that a prison inmate should receive a less costly punishment if the offender has served two-thirds of his or her sentence and can demonstrate he or she is no longer a threat to society. Thirty-five percent disagreed with this idea.
An earlier poll from 2019 showed fewer than half of voters agreed with releasing prison inmates when half of their sentence has been served. The support grew to over 50% when asked about inmates who have served two-thirds of their sentence.
In the same poll, 71% said they favored eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, giving judges the ability to set sentences on a case-by-case basis, while 20% oppose eliminating mandatory minimum sentences.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democrat Francesca Hong speaks about an ideal world ‘without prisons’
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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