Governor Evers Wants to Create a New Office to Oversee the Wisconsin Department of Corrections

Wednesday, February 26th, 2025 -- 1:00 PM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) Gov. Tony Evers wants to create a new office that would be tasked with oversight of Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections.

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, he’s asking lawmakers to approve funding for a prison ombudsperson as part of Wisconsin’s next two-year budget.

At least 19 states have prison oversight bodies with duties such as investigating complaints and performing audits and inspections, according to a review by the National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight.

But Wisconsin isn’t one of them. That would change under a budget proposal unveiled by Evers last week. His nearly $4 billion spending plan for Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections includes about $2 million over two years to create an Ombudsperson’s Office.

That 11-person office would investigate complaints “regarding facilities, abuse, unfair acts and violations of rights of persons in the care of the department,” according to budget proposal documents.

The ombudsperson would publish annual reports and be able to make recommendations to Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections, according to a Legislative Reference Bureau analysis of the budget bill.

Over the last year, a prison reform advocacy group known as Ladies of Stanley Correctional Institution has been lobbying state officials, said Rebecca Aubart the organization’s founder.

Aubart started Ladies of SCI after her husband was incarcerated at the Stanley prison. Currently, people incarcerated in Wisconsin can file grievances through what’s known as the internal complaints examiner.

But Aubart said that internal process is insufficient and can cause incarcerated people to fear retaliation. “They can’t continue to oversee themselves,” Aubart said of Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections.

“It’s our taxpayer dollars that have been paying for all of this, and with the lack of transparency from the DOC, most Wisconsinites don’t even really know the full extent to what’s happening.”

Aubart said an ombudsperson’s office would provide greater accountability by allowing an independent agency to investigate complaints brought by corrections workers and by incarcerated people and their loved ones.

Evers’ proposal requests funding for the ombudsperson’s office as part of the Department of Corrections budget. But Aubart says she believes an effective ombudsperson shouldn’t work under the Department of Corrections.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.