Judge’s rigorous collection of court-ordered debt atypical in Wisconsin — even in his own county

Over the past seven years, in at least 52 cases involving 46 defendants, Biskupic has used “review hearings” to either monitor a defendant’s behavior or to pressure them to pay court-ordered financial obligations. In at least one case, he went as far as ordering additional jailtime for the failure to pay overdue debts — a tactic the Wisconsin Supreme Court has warned could be unconstitutional.

Reporting by Jack Kelly, Phoebe Petrovic, Mario Koran and Madeline Fuerstenberg in partnership with WPR. Originally published July 31st, 2021.