It’s been more than six months since an investigation into a string of inmate deaths resulted in criminal charges against a then-warden and eight other employees at the troubled Waupun Correctional Institution.
Now, with a new legislative session set to begin in January, lawmakers from both major parties are calling for changes in Wisconsin’s prison system — but their approaches differ and appear likely to hit snags on the path to bipartisan consensus.
After the June 2024 arrests of Waupun prison officials, Republican lawmakers renewed calls to build a new prison to replace the 100-year-old facility in Dodge County and the Green Bay Correctional Institution, which has also faced heightened scrutiny over conditions.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told the Cap Times in a recent interview that he supports the idea of a new prison.
“The current prisons were designed a long time ago, and there’s too many people in them, so the most humane thing that we can do for people who are incarcerated is build up a new prison with access to better facilities than they currently have,” Vos said. “That, to me, is the best prison reform that we can start with.”
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections also needs increased oversight, Vos signaled. But he remains dedicated to keeping a tough-on-crime approach to the state’s sentencing and incarceration structure.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he supports the idea of building a new prison to replace the troubled Waupun and Green Bay correctional institutions.
“There are already a lot of things with the way the DOC operates that we prefer to see change, but it’s not making it easier to let people out of jail. It’s to make sure that people who commit a crime pay a price and hopefully don’t reciprocate,” Vos said.
As concerns mounted in early 2024 over inmate deaths, prison conditions and assaults on corrections staff, Democrats in the Legislature brought forward a package of 17 bills that sought to overhaul rules that govern how prisoners are treated. The lawmakers said they believed that improved conditions could also improve operations.
The bills received no bipartisan support and failed to pass through the Republican-led Legislature.
At a July hearing, the outgoing chair of the Assembly Committee on Corrections said the bills might have received attention if Democrats had asked for Republican input before proposing them.
“You guys went in front of the TV cameras. You took your five minutes of fame. You never came to any member on this committee, on the Republican side, and worked with any of us,” said Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh. “That’s not the way that things work here. The majority party brings these bills forward, and if they’re bipartisan bills, they get hearings.”
Now, as returning and incoming lawmakers prepare for a new session to begin next month, Democratic leaders say there is work to be done — and it shouldn’t include money for a new prison without additional attention to conditions.
Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, raised concerns over the anticipated costs associated with a new prison — estimated in the hundreds of millions dollars — and said her party is discussing what types of legislation they hope to bring forward.
“I’m not sure what that would look like. I’m not sure what the dollar amount would be,” Hesselbein said. “There’s a lot that we need to do for prison reform in the state of Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin Senate Democratic Leader Diane Hesselbein says her minority caucus plans to push for legislation intended to reduce the state’s prison population and improve inmate conditions.
Replacing aging prison facilities has been in discussion in Wisconsin for years, with a 2020 report showing state interest in expanding other prisons to take weight off of the institutions in Waupun and Green Bay. At the time, a separate report commissioned by the Department of Corrections showed replacing the Green Bay prison could cost upwards of $500 million.
Another key change on Hesselbein’s mind is closing the Lincoln Hills juvenile prison in northern Wisconsin, where authorities say a staff member was killed last June by an incarcerated youth.
But other changes the Democratic leader hopes to see relate to sentencing and reentry.
“I am really still disgusted that we treat 17-year-olds as adults,” Hesselbein said. “And looking at expungement when people are out. That’s been something we want to do for a long time.”
In the Assembly, Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, says Wisconsin’s prison system is in dire need of changes but that reform needs to come in a holistic approach beyond building a new prison.
Rep. Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, the Democratic minority leader of the Wisconsin Assembly, said she hopes her party will have more leverage in January when lawmakers return for a new session.
“Our hope in any conversation about investment in facilities is that there is a very rigorous conversation about what we’re doing to reduce incarceration in Wisconsin, particularly of those low-level, non-violent offenders and investing in alternatives to incarceration and treatment and services,” Neubauer said.
Looking at conditions of confinement and reentry support systems remains a “high priority” for Assembly Democrats, she said.
“We are not doing right by the people who are incarcerated in Wisconsin. We are not providing the kinds of resources and support that they need upon release,” Neubauer said. “I hope that we are able to take a real look at the kind of treatment that the people receive while they’re incarcerated, and what we can do to ensure safety and their wellbeing upon their release.”
One such bill that has been introduced for at least six legislation sessions, to no avail, seeks to implement a state law limiting the use of shackles on pregnant and birthing prisoners.
That bill had been championed by former Milwaukee Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor. Hesselbein said she is already discussing a renewed push for that law with other Democrats.
Neubauer called it “common sense” to change the laws governing the use of shackles on pregnant prisoners.
“We all know someone who is or has recently been pregnant, and understand that the impact of shackling and confining someone in that way could be really significant on that individual and their health and the health of their child,” Neubauer said. “And we also know that it is just simply not necessary to do so.”
With new legislative maps placing pressure on some Republicans who are now situated in less secure voting districts, Neubauer said she hopes legislation like this will get more attention from GOP lawmakers who might fear the outcome of their next election.
“Senator Taylor and others have been working on this for many years, and we haven’t seen interest from Republicans in taking this up,” Neubauer said. “But I hope that this issue, like many others, will receive some more attention in this new era.”
