Gov. Evers Announces Evers Administration to Move Forward with Comprehensive Plans to Revamp Corrections Facilities

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today announced the Evers Administration is moving forward with the governor’s comprehensive correctional facilities plan announced earlier this year to revamp corrections facilities across the state and work toward closing Green Bay Correctional Institution and Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools. Gov. Evers, who chairs the State Building Commission, today announced the Evers Administration will be asking the State Building Commission to release $15 million secured through the bipartisan 2025-27 state budget to begin work across several Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities toward implementing the governor’s comprehensive correctional facilities plan. Gov. Evers today urged bipartisan support from Republican lawmakers on the State Building Commission at the upcoming commission meeting to release the $15 million budget investment, prevent delays on project timelines, and move forward toward implementing the governor’s comprehensive corrections plan and revamping Wisconsin’s correctional facilities.

“Wisconsin is already years behind in modernizing corrections and reforming our justice system like so many red and blue states have, so it’s critically important that we begin work on projects to modernize DOC facilities without any further delay. We worked hard to put together a pragmatic, commonsense approach to modernizing our correctional institutions that will save taxpayers in the long run and improve public safety, and I’m proud our administration is continuing to move forward with this important plan,” said Gov. Evers. “Nevertheless, there is, as always, much work to do. While it was disappointing that Republican lawmakers rejected most of my budget investments to make sweeping improvements to our correctional facilities, this $15 million will help ensure we can get to work, keep projects on time, and prevent costs to taxpayers from going up.”

“I’m calling for bipartisan support and urging Republican lawmakers on the State Building Commission to join me by voting to ensure this investment is released,” Gov. Evers continued. “It’s pretty simple, folks—failing to release this investment will only delay our work and these projects and, ultimately, delay the closure of GBCI and Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, which have long been bipartisan goals. Republican lawmakers cannot let that happen. If we want to save taxpayers millions, improve public safety, support our corrections staff, and make our facilities safer, this is the plan to do it, and we need these investments to be released so we can get to work.”

For years, Wisconsin’s corrections system has put a strain on resources across the state, from local law enforcement to courts to annual corrections costs to taxpayers, coupled with consistent lack of meaningful investment in evidence-based, data-driven programs proven to reduce recidivism, which help improve public safety and keep kids, families, and communities safe. While other options, such as constructing a brand-new correctional facility, will cost taxpayers an estimated approximately $1 billion and take the better part of a decade to complete, Gov. Evers’ comprehensive corrections plan focuses on rehabilitating and modernizing existing facilities, reducing both short- and long-term costs to Wisconsin taxpayers, and realizing the benefits of taxpayer-funded investments much sooner.

Earlier this year, Gov. Evers unveiled a sweeping DOC budget plan, proposing some of the most significant facility and capital changes in DOC history. Gov. Evers, in announcing his proposal, called his proposal the “safest, fastest, and cheapest” solution available—that is, the governor’s plan is the most cost-effective for taxpayers, the most efficient for alleviating the capacity challenges facing Wisconsin’s correctional institutions, and it is the safest option by improving public safety. To date, no alternative plan has been suggested or materialized that is safer, faster, and cheaper than the proposal introduced by the governor earlier this year.

The governor’s comprehensive corrections reform plan includes a complex “domino series” of projects at several DOC facilities that, coupled with necessary reforms to help stabilize the state’s skyrocketing prison population, are designed to ultimately close Green Bay Correctional Institution, revamp Waupun Correctional Institution into a state-of-the-art “vocational village,” and close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and advance 2017 Wisconsin Act 185 to utilize a regional approach to youth populations at smaller facilities, among other key projects. While Republican lawmakers rejected the governor’s comprehensive corrections plan and removed the plan from consideration during the Legislature’s deliberation of the governor’s proposed budget, the final 2025-27 state budget approved by the governor included $15 million to begin planning efforts and some initial work on several DOC capital projects.

The Evers Administration’s request, which will be before the State Building Commission later this month, will fund preliminary plans and a design report for key components of the governor’s comprehensive corrections plan to begin work toward moving forward with the plan, including a series of capital projects across six DOC facilities:

• Waupun Correctional Institution;
• Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to be converted into a medium-security adult facility, Lincoln Correctional Institution;
• Stanley Correctional Institution;
• Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center; and
• John C. Burke Correctional Center.

The governor’s comprehensive plan aims to address DOC’s aging facilities with outdated designs that hinder rehabilitation and create safety issues, while reducing short and long-term costs to taxpayers and addressing the state’s growing prison population. The governor’s “domino” series of facility changes and improvements, which will be implemented through a series of ‘realignment’ projects, include:

• Completing construction on the planned Dane County Type 1 facility in late 2028, with plans to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools in early 2029;
• Making key upgrades that allow DOC to convert Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools into a 500-bed, medium-security adult facility;
• Closing Green Bay Correctional Institution and converting Stanley Correctional Institution to a 1,500 maximum-security institution with the ability to “flex” as a medium-custody institution;
  • Converting the facility would allow DOC to absorb all persons in our care at Waupun and Green Bay Correctional classified as maximum-security.
• Converting John Burke Correctional Center to a female institution, adding 300 women’s beds to DOC’s system at no cost; and
• Expanding Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center to increase bed space by 200 minimum-security beds, adding much-needed minimum-security beds to the system, and accounting for some of the displaced workforce at Green Bay Correctional Institution.

The State Building Commission’s swift approval to release the $15 million secured in the 2025-27 state budget is critical to ensure projects continue on time and to prevent any project delays that could drive up project costs, especially as it relates to keeping projects on schedule in order to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools. The Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) and DOC have already begun the process of selecting an architect-engineer of record for the DOC realignment projects. The release of these funds will allow DOA to execute a timely contract for the development of these preliminary plans.

Additionally, Gov. Evers’ comprehensive corrections plan also proposes to convert Waupun Correctional Institution into a state-of-the-art, medium-security institution designated as the state’s first “vocational village.” Based on models from other states like Michigan, Louisiana, and Missouri, vocational villages emphasize vocational training and workforce readiness to ensure individuals who have completed their time in Wisconsin’s correctional institutions have the resources, training, and skills to join the workforce, be contributing members of society, reduce their risk of reoffending, and improve public safety. Waupun Correctional Institution would close temporarily while major renovations were conducted, including demolishing the existing cell halls, replacing them with modern housing for 600 at medium-security, and establishing space for the “vocational village.”

A thorough overview of Gov. Evers’ comprehensive corrections plan that was released earlier this year is available here. Additional details on the Evers Administration’s efforts to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, and safely and responsibly move kids closer to home, are also available below.

The State Building Commission will take up Gov. Evers’ and the Evers Administration’s request to release the $15 million secured in the 2025-27 state budget at its next meeting on Tues., Oct. 28, 2025.

At the same upcoming meeting, the State Building Commission will also have the opportunity to approve the release of $1.5 million for plans to expand the Grow Academy in Dane County into a 16-bed facility that provides rehabilitative services for at-risk youth, while simultaneously providing much-needed beds as a step down for youth transitioning back to the community. The investment is another key component of the Evers Administration’s plans to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools by ensuring additional services and treatment are available to youth closer to their support networks and communities. If the Commission deadlocks and fails to release the $1.5 million investment, it will present yet another in a long line of setbacks caused by legislative inaction and obstruction that have plagued efforts to fully implement and realize 2017 Wisconsin Act 185 and close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools.

The Commission is chaired by Gov. Evers and made up of the following additional members:

• State Sen. Brad Pfaff;
• State Sen. Mary Felzkowski;
• State Sen. André Jacque;
• State Rep. Jill Billings;
• State Rep. Rob Swearingen;
• State Rep. Robert Wittke; and
• Citizen Member Barb Worcester.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS’ AND EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO CLOSE LINCOLN HILLS AND COPPER LAKE SCHOOLS

Gov. Evers, Secretary Hoy, and the Evers Administration have spent six years working to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to get kids closer to home safely and responsibly while operating under the 2017 Act 185 (Act 185) framework passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Walker in 2018. In the wake of the raid and subsequent allegations, Act 185 called for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to be closed as a youth facility and to build new, smaller, regional facilities to replace the schools, ensuring youth can receive treatment closer to their homes and their family and community supports. Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to be closed as a youth facility and to build new, smaller, regional facilities to replace the schools, ensuring youth can receive treatment closer to their homes and their family and community supports.

Gov. Evers has long supported efforts to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, including during his time as state superintendent, and has spent most of his tenure as governor working to reform the state’s juvenile and adult justice systems. The governor has proposed measures to make sweeping changes to Wisconsin’s corrections landscape in his 2019-21, 2021-23, 2023-25, and 2025-27 Executive and Capital Budgets, the vast majority of which were rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

In April 2022, Gov. Evers signed Senate Bill 520, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 252, which furthered the eventual closure of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools after Act 185’s enactment by authorizing up to $41.7 million in bonding for the purpose of constructing a new Type 1 juvenile facility in Milwaukee County (currently under construction and will be complete in 2026). Additionally, the bipartisan 2025-27 state budget included $130.7 million to construct an additional Type 1 facility in Dane County but, unfortunately, did not approve funding for the northern Type 1 and approved only $1.5 million of the $31.1 million Gov. Evers requested to plan a Grow Academy expansion, which is also a critical piece of the plan to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools.

Earlier this month, Gov. Evers celebrated successful reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and announced that the Evers Administration has successfully reached full compliance with all 50 of the court-ordered reforms at the schools—a critical first step toward the schools no longer being under regular court-required monitoring and supervision and, ultimately, for the facilities to be closed and converted to adult institutions.

As the new Type 1 facility in Milwaukee is expected to open next year, the state will be able to begin moving some youth housed at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools closer to home safely and responsibly, bringing the state another step closer to using the facilities for adult corrections, which will help alleviate staffing and capacity challenges at other adult institutions. However, completely removing youth from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and converting the schools to adult correctional institutions will require more juvenile Type 1 facilities to be online in addition to other programming designed to improve youth treatment, rehabilitation, and successful reentry.

A timeline of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools events, including the implementation of Act 185 and updates on Type 1 facilities projects can be found here on the DOC website. A listing of all court-ordered monitor reports can be found here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.