Wisconsin's Prisons are Overcrowded and Understaffed

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023 -- 12:01 PM

(Danielle DuClos, Green Bay Press-Gazette) Wisconsin's prisons are overcrowded and understaffed while facilities in Green Bay, Stanley and Waupun have been under lockdown for months.

According to Danielle DuClos with the Green Bay Press-Gazette, a lockdown, also called "modified movement," means there are no visitors, and prisoners have little time outside their cells.

Department of Corrections spokesman Kevin Hoffman has told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that Stanley's situation is different from what is happening in Green Bay and Waupun.

Those incarcerated at Stanley, which is in Chippewa County, still have access to some recreation, visits and vocational programs, he said. All the while, more people are in "restrictive housing" across the state's prison system.

Akin to solitary confinement, those in restrictive housing are housed alone, cannot visit the cafeteria and rarely leave their cells, except to shower. In August, the state had the highest number of prisoners in restrictive housing since May 2019.

The state's prisons have also been plagued with other problems. Two deaths have been reported this year at Waupun Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison that has been on lockdown since March.

Police in Fond du Lac are investigating a July death at the all-female, maximum-security Taycheedah Correctional Institution. Earlier this year, advocates for those incarcerated at Green Bay Correctional Institution said the facility was infested with rodents.

Wisconsin has a 32% staff vacancy rate across all its prisons. Maximum- and medium-security facilities are bearing the brunt of low staffing levels. While prisons are struggling to operate, many of the maximum- and medium-security facilities are overcrowded.

Across the state, assaults on correctional staff reached an all-time high in fiscal year 2023, which ran from July 1, 2022, to June 30. There were 378 attempted and actual assaults on staff including battery, physical injury, sexual assault, spitting or throwing a bodily substance at employees.

Assaults haven't been that high in over a decade, according to agency data. The majority of agency workers say that if they left the Department of Corrections, it would be because of pay, according to a 2022 employee survey.

The state Legislature approved a pay increase for correctional officers that kicks in this week, hoping to ease the shortage. Wages will jump from about $22 an hour to $33.

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