Building Commission OKs Planning Funds to Reorganize Wisconsin Prisons

The watchtower for the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez, Wis. Royalbroil (CC BY)

The State Building Commission has agreed to release $15 million for “planning and design” as part of the governor’s plan to reorganize Wisconsin’s prison system.

The commission’s vote sets in motion the early stages of multi-step proposal that calls for the eventual closure of a troubled prison near Green Bay.

Although they joined a unanimous vote to release the planning funds on Tuesday, Republican legislators on the building commission made clear that they object to facets of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ prison realignment plan. That includes the governor’s goal of reducing the capacity of Wisconsin’s prison system.

Evers told commissioners Tuesday he’s open to feedback, but said it’s past time to move forward on closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution.

“Let’s just get something goddamn done here, please,” Evers said during the commission meeting. “We got to fix the system, and we have an opportunity now.”

The $15 million released by the building commission Tuesday had been earmarked by the Republican-controlled Legislature as part of the two-year budget signed by Evers this summer.

But Republicans and Democrats disagreed over what exactly should be planned for.

Republicans criticize plan to cut prison beds

Specifically, Republican members of the building commission questioned the governor’s goal of eventually reducing the capacity of the state prison system by 700 beds. Evers’ plan included the expansion of early release programs for non-violent offenders.

Instead, Republican lawmakers said during a news conference Tuesday they want to increase capacity in state prisons. That GOP plan would increase capacity by roughly 160 beds systemwide, said Cameil Bowler, a staffer for state Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk. Bowler told WPR that exact numbers are a “starting point” in discussions.

“We’re not saying that that’s the absolute plan here,” Felzkowksi said during a news conference. “It’s a proposal that we’ve worked on, but we need to sit down in a bipartisan fashion and look at the future.”

State Rep. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine said the GOP alternative to Evers’ plan is aimed at “right-sizing” the prison population.

“This is about adding additional beds, reducing overcrowding and making facilities safer for not only our inmates, but for our staff,” said Wanggaard, who chairs a public safety committee.

Another Republican lawmaker, state Rep. Mark Born of Beaver Dam, called the governor’s proposal to cut prison beds unrealistic.

“We have to be realistic about what the law is and what the trends are,” Born said prior to the building commission’s meeting. “We shouldn’t pretend that just because people wish there were fewer people in prison, that that’s what’s going to happen.”

Wisconsin’s over-capacity prison system has seen a rising population

Currently, there are roughly 23,000 people locked up in state prisons — a number that has more than tripled since 1990.

Compared to what it was designed for, the state’s prison system is over capacity by more than 5,800 people, according to figures from the Department of Corrections.

Evers campaigned on a promise to reduce the state prison population and at one point said he would support cutting that population in half. But many of his criminal justice reform proposals have been nixed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

In February, Evers unveiled a half-billion dollar proposal that would reshuffle the state’s prison population. Along with closing Green Bay, it called for converting and renovating some prisons and expanding another.

First built in the 1898, the maximum-security Green Bay prison has been plagued by overcrowding, faulty plumbing and outdated facilities that don’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s also been troubled by violence, including when a man incarcerated there murdered his cellmate last year.

There has been bipartisan agreement — from the governor as well as from Republican and Democratic lawmakers — about the need to eventually close the Green Bay prison.

In his budget request earlier this year, Evers called for closing it by the end of 2029. The governor later struck that specific time reference in a partial veto. At the time, Evers reiterated that the prison must close, but said it would be irresponsible to set a specific deadline without a “real, meaningful, or concrete plan” from the Legislature.

Budget documents submitted by Evers’ administration to the building commission projected that the prison realignment project, including Green Bay’s closure, could be completed by January 2031, depending on factors including funding any needed changes to state law.

Commission votes down Republican motion to change project scope

During Tuesday’s commission meeting, Republicans accused Evers’ of trying to implement a rushed plan without legislative input.

Republican commissioners introduced a motion that would have required the state to submit a letter to its prison planning consultants, but that motion failed in a 4-4 vote. That letter would have told the consultant to plan for the Green Bay Correctional Institution’s closure by 2029. The letter also called for expanding the Taycheedah women’s prison and the Jackson men’s prison as part of the project scope.

Even though that motion was voted down, Felzkowski said she ultimately agreed to approve planning funds after Evers promised to work with legislators.

“I am cautiously optimistic following today’s meeting,” she said in a statement. “Reform at the Department of Corrections must come from bipartisan, ongoing conversations.”

Meanwhile, Evers celebrated Tuesday’s vote as a “key step toward ultimately working toward the goal of closing Green Bay Correctional Institution and getting kids out of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools safely and responsibly.”

The Lincoln Hills facility for boys and the nearby Copper Lake Facility for girls are two youth prisons located in northern Wisconsin. They were supposed to close by 2021 under a law signed in 2018 by then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, but they remain open amid delays in approvals for alternate youth facilities.

The motion approved Tuesday directs a construction manager to plan for converting Lincoln Hills into an adult prison. It also calls on the construction manager to plan for the conversion of the maximum-security Waupun prison into a medium-security facility that’s focused on vocational training.

Evers’ included $250 million for Waupun’s conversion in his budget proposal, but Republican lawmakers took that funding out.

First built in the 1850s, Waupun is even older than the Green Bay prison, and criminal justice advocates have long called for the Waupun prison to be shut down.

Listen to the WPR report

Building commission OKs planning funds for reorganizing Wisconsin prison system was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.