PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
ALLOUEZ, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s been three months since Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers first unveiled his Corrections Reform Plan, which includes closing Green Bay Correctional Institution by 2029.
Since then, lawmakers have continued talks to see through some sort of closure plan.
“It’s a big issue and we need to be addressing it comprehensively,” said State Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, ahead of the committee’s first budget vote May 8. He is the co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.
Public support for closing the more than 125-year-old prison in Allouez has only been growing.
The Brown County Taxpayers Association said this month, “Both Governor Evers and the legislature owe it to the taxpayers to solve this long-time, bad situation.”
Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee say Evers’ corrections plan isn’t well thought out.
“The plan is half-baked. It needs a lot of work, and so, I think our caucuses will be working on that and at some point, we’ll probably be talking more with the Governor’s office,” said State Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, also on May 8. He is the fellow co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.
Evers’ $500+ million plan would also make updates and expansions to other correctional facilities in the state. Waupun’s prison would be converted to a medium security facility focused on vocational training.
Evers’ plan also calls for building a new secure juvenile facility in Dane County, and includes planning funds for another to be built somewhere in Northeast Wisconsin.
“Allow Lincoln Hills to be converted to a medium security, and that allows the medium security facility at Stanley to be changed into a maximum security facility, and that allows enough slack in the system to close GBCI,” said State Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, during an interview with FOX 11 Monday.
“What’s the long-term solution to that? I don’t think that, certainly at this point in time, we have not seen enough details, and it’s a big area, complex area,” said Marklein on May 8.
Evers’ plan also called for expanding the earned release program for people convicted of lesser offenses.
But this was one of hundreds of proposals killed by joint finance earlier this month, as they work to craft their own budget for the legislature to vote on.
“What’s most important in my mind is that we start walking down the road that he’s proposed in terms of the physical changes that need to take place in the corrections system, that end up with the prison in Allouez closing,” said Wall.
Overcrowding and safety issues have been huge concerns at GBCI. In the latest month-end prison population total on March 31, 1,126 people were housed there. Its operating capacity is 749.
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