Benjamin Braam has already decided a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling means he can stop recharging an electronic tracking bracelet the state forced him to wear for the rest of his life.
The high court’s decision involved a case unrelated to Braam, but it shot down the rationale that former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel used to justify the lifetime monitoring of one-time sexual offenders even after they completed their sentences and were no longer under court-ordered supervision.
Authorities from the state Department of Corrections “called me and said I had to charge it and I told them I would no longer be charging it,” Braam said. “They need to remove it. They need to go through every case since Schimel made that opinion and reevaluate them.”
What’s the point of keeping it on him if they can’t verify his whereabouts? Regardless, this is completely dehumanizing and can’t be tolerated any longer. They made me wear one during probation for three years and I have ptsd as a result of it.
No One should ever be forced to wear a monitor on their bodies for a life time, that’s a sick politicians way or playing judge, jury, executioner. Nor should any human be forced to a life time registry. This is barbaric and needs to STOP. If a person is that bad of a treat to society a Judge and only a Judge or jury should have the power to enforce such a cruel punishment upon a person of this country. Politicians are the ones forcing these unjust punitive punishment’s and in most cases years after a person has been sentenced or served their time for a crime, no retroactive registries or life time punishments are expectable. The courts needs to strike down all these unjust sentences applied via power hungry politician and law makers.
Article says:
“Braam is hoping the Department of Corrections will decide to end his lifetime sanction, even if he’s already taking matters into his own hands and letting his GPS device battery die.”
Braam says:
“The ruling says that my case no longer falls under the opinion from the old attorney general,” he said, “so why am I still wearing it?”
Gotta admire Braam’s balls of steel!
Wow! I didn’t know you let your unit go dead, William. Way to go! But be careful with these people. I’m curious, can’t you cut the unit off yourself? Or do they have some law where they’d get you with tampering with government property? Also, what if a lifetime gps former Wisconsin resident decided to repatriate back to that state. Do you think he/or she would get in trouble for refusing to put the ankle bracelet back on despite the court ruling? That would be a good test case. Honestly, I think the house of cards is falling for the Wisconsin DOC.
@william
Sue them for physical, mental, and emotional stress with a number you feel is appropriate for a daily stress fee for each day they leave it on after the ruling when they could have removed it. It could be a nice lawsuit number for you in the end when you tally it. When the gov’t wants something, they can do it pretty quick. But when they must give something or do something, they drag their feet like a child they are.
Registrants are human beings not cattle to be tagged and tracked before going out to pasture (society). I’d like to see lawmakers, law enforcement, busybodies, governors, and judges to wear GPS for awhile for the dehumanizing experience.
The purveyors of bracelets are under Gov. contracts. They need to be confronted directly by… [people forced to register]. I’m not talking violence! Just to make them uncomfortable in a VERY public way. State’s may not sell off citizens to private tech industry!
Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed the same thoughts many years ago.
I’m glad you’re being proactive and putting a little fire under their tails. Personally, I try not to out low level employees who really are just following orders. But calling out the bigwigs usually gets their attention. People are less tolerant of bureaucrats, than they are of pencil ✏️ pushers.
Those bracelets look intimidating
I didn’t realize Brad Schimel had such a punchable face. What a d*ckhead. I’m also waiting to hear back from the Wisconsin Dept of Corruption about changing my registration time back to 15 years. Thank God I don’t have to wear an ankle bracelet since I’m now staying in Massachusetts. But I need to get off lifetime. If WI DOC doesn’t hurry it up with their “reviews,” I have a couple of law students lined up ready to do business. They can’t wait to take a bite out of Kevin Carr’s black ass (I can say that because I’m black too) So if the DOC wants to rumble, we can go there.
It’s really not a politician problem with the gps requirement in Wisconsin. It’s a departmental problem as the article states. The former AG Brad Schimel, who offered up his “interpretation” of the guidelines, has long been out of office since Tony Evers became governor over 4 years ago. Under the previous Walker administration, DOC head Jon Litscher only asked Schimel what the guidelines meant. But in the end, Litscher ignored the former AG’s interpretation.
Then Walker appointed Cathy Jess as the DOC head. She decided to go along with the guidelines, and she was the first sole defendant in the Illinois 7th circuit gps case that plaintiffs lost–mostly because the case concentrated on the “inconvenience” of wearing an ankle bracelet. While that case was being decided, Tony Evers became governor and appointed token Kevin Carr to lead the department. This fool decided to also go along with Schimel’s guidelines until inmate Corey Rector came along with a more “focused” lawsuit involving those considered to be repeat offenders who’d been convicted under ONE case, ONE court proceeding. After Rector won, got put back on 15 year registration, and gave Kevin Carr the finger, this motherfu*cker still refuses to back off everyone else! Myself included. So it has to take more legal actions and threats of contempt of court to put some fire under that bureaucrat’s ass.
The recent Supreme Court decision in Rector, regarding lifetime GPS monitoring, doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Yes, there are people who definitely need to be on GPS monitoring, people who have repeatedly proven that they will continue to re-offend and will continue to be in places where they shouldn’t be. The problem is, this reasoning doesn’t apply to the vast majority of people that Wisconsin has placed on lifetime GPS monitoring.
A large number of those on GPS monitoring committed their crimes literally DECADES ago, prior to the GPS law being enacted, yet have had this law retroactively applied to them, WITHOUT a court order, without a hearing, without a valid risk assessment being done. And they have no recourse, they aren’t even allowed to have an annual review for consideration of their suitability for GPS monitoring or to petition the court every so often for consideration of having the GPS removed, a hearing where the State of Wisconsin would be required to submit evidence showing why lifetime GPS monitoring should continue to be imposed.
These are people who pose zero danger to the community, who have led crime-free lives for many years, who have fully completed their court-imposed sentences (where the court did NOT impose lifetime GPS monitoring), and have fully “paid their debt to society.” In cases where the State of Wisconsin has literally ZERO justification to continue GPS monitoring, why do we continue to do this?
I’m on the GPS for life I have one victim and 3 counts in that crime and it’s from 1989-1990,and from 1999 to 2019 I was not a threat to the public and committed no new crimes and in fact it’s the only one in my adult life and went through the 980 law. I now guys that have 2-3 separate victim’s and are not on the GPS why?