Wisconsin is sending more people to jail for drunken driving even as its prison system faces crowding and rising costs, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
What the report found
Released July 9, the analysis reviewed data from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Incident-Based Reporting System. It highlights a sustained move toward incarcerating more people for OWI (operating while intoxicated), particularly repeat offenders and older adults.
Lead author Liam Farin told the Forum that Wisconsin couples relatively light penalties for first-time OWI offenders with aggressive punishments for subsequent convictions — a combination that has pushed up the number of people behind bars on drunken-driving charges.
“Oftentimes older adults are more prone to have higher costs associated with medical costs, things like that. But also, thinking about the social costs as well when we're sending more people into prisons, that also has impacts on communities and the reentry process as well,”
— Liam Farin, lead author, Wisconsin Policy Forum
Who is being affected
The report documents two notable patterns:
- Older adults: A growing share of those incarcerated for OWI are age 55 and older, a group that can produce higher correctional health-care expenses.
- Racial disparities: Black and Indigenous Wisconsinites make up a disproportionate share of OWI incarcerations, according to the Forum’s findings.
Policy Forum Research Director Joe Peterangelo said health care costs within the corrections system have risen faster than other budget items, in part because the state now operates an assisted-living unit at Oakhill Correctional Institute that opened in 2023.
Trends and context
Federal data from the FBI show OWI arrests have dropped in Wisconsin since 2007; the Forum noted arrests last year were less than half the level two decades earlier. Despite that decline in arrests, Wisconsin still has a higher-than-average per-capita OWI arrest rate — roughly 50% above the national rate, the analysis found.
| Measure | Finding |
|---|---|
| OWI arrests (trend) | Less than half of levels from 20 years earlier (FBI data) |
| State per-capita OWI arrest rate | ~50% higher than national average (Policy Forum) |
| Corrections health-care expansion | Assisted-living unit added at Oakhill in 2023 |
Implications for policy and communities
The Forum cautioned that longer or more frequent prison terms for repeat OWI convictions, combined with an aging prison population, drive up expenses and create challenges for reentry. Those higher costs include medical care and specialized housing for older inmates.
The report does not prescribe a single solution, but its authors point to the need for lawmakers, courts and local leaders to weigh the public-safety benefits of incarceration against the fiscal and social costs of expanding the prison population for drunken-driving offenses.
Officials at the Department of Corrections and local law enforcement were among the agencies whose data the Forum used; the report aims to inform debate about sentencing, alternatives to incarceration and resource allocation across Wisconsin’s criminal justice system.
As Wisconsin continues to weigh its approach to drunk-driving enforcement and punishment, the Forum’s findings add data to a longstanding policy conversation about balancing public safety, fairness and long-term costs.
Brooke Steiner is the Wisconsin correspondent for News Block.
