Wisconsin legislators are considering a bill that would increase the maximum prison term for certain drug convictions by five years, if the violation took place within 1,000 feet of a homeless shelter. Though it purports to target distribution, Senate Bill 610 would effectively apply to possession as well. The bill is calendared for a December 17 hearing with the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
Under current law, the maximum sentence for distribution is already increased by five years for violations that took place within 1,000 feet of parks, public pools, jails, public housing projects, youth or community centers, treatment centers, schools or school buses. This would add shelters to that list, “if either the person knows or should have known that he or she is on or within 1,000 feet of the premises of a homeless shelter or the homeless shelter is readily recognizable as a homeless shelter.”
Though possession charges wouldn’t be subject to the enhanced penalties under SB610, they would apply to “possession with intent to distribute,” which in Wisconsin could mean possession of any amount.
For example, cocaine possession is a misdemeanor on the first conviction and a felony on subsequent convictions, punishable by up to three-and-a-half years in prison. But cocaine possession of 1 gram or less is punishable by up to 10 years in prison if it’s deemed possession with intent to distribute.
Possession of fentanyl is punishable by up to three-and-a-half years in prison on the first conviction. But possession with intent to distribute any amount under 10 grams is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
An additional five years can be tacked on for convictions involving methamphetamine specifically.
For heroin, any amount up to 3 grams is punishable by up to 12.5 years. This would be the same for methamphetamine, except that the law also stipulates that an additional five years can be tacked on for convictions involving methamphetamine specifically. This is already in place for methamphetamine distribution-related violations near parks, schools, jails and the other locations cited in the existing law; shelters would be added to that list.
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s July executive order targeting unhoused drug users a number of states have advanced bills that serve that same agenda, but SB610 is not the norm. The only other comparable bill being considered is in North Carolina, where legislators have proposed creating “Drug-Free Homeless Service Zones” around certain shelter and treatment facilities, and making drug violations within those zones a felony punishable by up to 5.25 years in prison. Utah unsuccessfully proposed a similar bill in 2017. But in both, the proposed zones only extended 100 feet.
The “1,000-foot rule,” a criminalization tool borrowed from sex offender registries, has never been proven effective as a public safety measure. The distance is comparable to around three city blocks, give or take. Enforcing these “zones” around locations that recur all across downtown areas—like shelters or schools—has the effect of a blanket ban for anyone cops decide to target.
Image (cropped) via City of Boulder, Colorado