ALLOUEZ, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay Correctional Institution has had restrictions on inmates for more than seven months, but the state says progress is being made to get back to normal.
No recreation time, a lack of showers, and slow or no response to requests for mental health treatment are some of the complaints we’ve heard from Green Bay Correctional inmates and their family members.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections says the prison has been under a modified movement status since June 19th due to inmate assaults.
This week, the DOC said, “the only rule suspension that remains is related to leisure time. The facility resumed in-person visitation in November and offers one period of recreation each week.”
“I respect what the governor is doing,” said Dant’e Cottingham, the interim associate director for EXPO of Wisconsin, which stands for Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing. “I respect that he sees it. I just wish he’d take a couple more steps.”
Cottingham speaks regularly with inmates and their family members.
“The two guys that I spoke to, they have not gotten outside yet. They did not mention the showers. I’ll be speaking to them again soon. Hopefully that has changed very recently, but just last week nothing had changed for them.”
The DOC says it’s been able to beef up staffing with nearly 300 corrections officers added statewide in November and December.
Starting pay increased from $20.39 an hour to $33 an hour in the state budget passed last summer.
While the DOC reports prison staffing statewide has increased, a check of its online staffing dashboard shows GBCI is only about 60% staffed, which is the same percentage we reported back in September.
“It’s still unsafe there,” said Cottingham. “The brothers that live in Green Bay are still complaining to me, I’ve talked to several people there, that the mice infestation is still a big problem there.”
“We have two contracts with pest control folks that go into Green Bay weekly to monitor that situation and deal with that situation,” DOC Secretary Kevin Carr told a legislative committee on September 13th.
FOX 11 submitted an open records request on September 25th to see how much was being spent on pest control, but we still haven’t received a response.
Calls for the 125-year-old prison to close have been consistent for more than a decade. State officials have said discussions of the prison’s future are happening, but decreasing prison populations is favored over building a new facility.
Waupun Correctional Institution has had restrictions on inmates for a few months longer than Green Bay. It’s been under the modified movement status since late March 2023.
The Department of Corrections says it lifted shower restrictions this week, allowing inmates at least two showers per week at Waupun.
The prison currently has 33 extra officers from other facilities to help ease restrictions. The state’s online dashboard says 54% of Waupun’s full time positions are currently vacant.
Comments