GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Area leaders are once again calling for Green Bay’s prison to be shut down in the wake of Wednesday’s bombshell arrests of nine employees at the Waupun Correctional Institution (WCI).
Randall Hepp, WCI’s warden, is charged with misconduct in public office. Eight other prison employees are facing charges of felony inmate abuse, and three of them are also charged with misconduct in public office. It’s the result of an investigation launched after four WCI inmates died in an eight-month period.
During Wednesday’s news conference, Green Bay’s prison was called out by name by Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt. “It was also brought to my attention later that there were similar type incidents that have occurred at Green Bay Correctional Institution,” Schmidt said.
Allouez Village President Jim Rafter and State Representative David Steffens — who represent the area where GBCI is located — have both been advocating for the closure of GBCI for nearly a decade.
FOX 11 talked to Rafter and Steffens about Wednesday’s arrests and the ongoing issues at GBCI. Both urged Gov. Tony Evers to take action to replace Green Bay’s and Waupun’s prisons.
“It’s in terrible shape and it can’t do its job,” Rafter said of GBCI. “It’s an ongoing effort that won’t end until GBCI is closed. It’s something that has to happen. I was very happy, quite honestly, to hear someone from outside of the Green Bay area, in the sheriff from Dodge County, bring that up. When you have law enforcement officials like the sheriff from Dodge County, like [Brown County] Sheriff Delain — they are in the business, they are in those places, they know what they’re like. Listen to the professionals and do what’s right. Start having conversations, and as the sheriff in Dodge County said, save lives. We’re losing lives. These places are not meant to do what they need to do today.”
Steffens said what happened at Waupun Correctional Institution needs to be a wake-up call.
“The time for half measures is over. It’s time for us to move forward with a plan that includes the closure of those two 1800s-era facilities,” Steffens said. “Let’s be clear that this issue isn’t going to get better without action.
I’ve been saying for years that this is a ticking time bomb, both GBCI and the issues at Waupun. We are starting to see those percolate into the real world here. So I’m not sure how many deaths, how many lawsuits, how many staffing issues we have to deal with before we have a governor who is willing to make a decision — the right decision — on this… We need to be making some strong, real changes as it relates to our prison system.
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