Gov. Evers says prison overhaul will cost 80% more, with GBCI closure delayed to 2032

In a release, Evers said Wisconsin taxpayers will have to pay 80% more for the state’s corrections realignment plan and completion is now projected for late 2032.

Evers blames Republicans after a 20 month delay in approving his plan.

State Rep. Benjamin Franklin, R-De Pere, said that’s not true and believes Evers has been dragging his feet.

“He hasn’t put an ask for the [Department of Corrections] Realignment in any of those budgets until the most recent one and he’s actually had a report on his desk since 2020 from an outside group an engineering firm saying that it is structurally unsafe and something needs to be done about GBCI,” Franklin said.

The corrections plan was originally projected to cost $325 million when it was unveiled last year.

Now, Evers said it will cost about $585 million.

The plan includes closing GBCI and transferring the inmates, rebuilding Waupun Correctional, and reconfiguring the other prisons.

While Franklin knows costs continue to rise, he questions Evers’ numbers.

“When I hear 80%, construction costs are going up at a pretty fast increasing rate, but if you look at an overall national statistic, construction costs are about 8% over a 20 month period,” Franklin said.

Despite this, Franklin said it’s a bipartisan issue and something needs to be done to fix the prison system sooner rather than later.

State Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, agrees.

“We kicked the can down the road quite a bit on this and there’s a limit to how much you can do that without endangering public safety and also as we’ve seen, costing taxpayers more money as construction costs increase,” Wall said.

Wall is disappointed the price tag has increased so substantially, but said this plan will still be a lot cheaper than building a brand new mega prison.

While he wants Green Bay Correctional to close sooner than 2032, Wall thinks it will give enough time to move everyone properly.

“We need to create enough slack in the system that we could take the 1,200 inmates that are there right now in Allouez and put them somewhere else I mean, we’re not just gonna open the gates and walk away, you know, that’d be crazy,” Wall said.

Hiring a construction management company to oversee the project is the next step.

Lawmakers have another opportunity to provide more funding for the plan during next year’s state budget process.

Allouez Village President Jim Rafter released a statement on the matter which reads in part:

I am beyond frustrated with Governor Evers and, more importantly, with what he has failed to accomplish during his nearly eight years in office to address the terrible injustice we call Green Bay Correctional Institution.

I’m not sure where the Governor is getting his information, but construction costs have certainly not increased 80% over the past 20 months. According to Turner Construction Company, one of the nation’s largest construction firms, nonresidential building costs have increased approximately 8% over a comparable period. Yet the Governor’s original $325 million estimate has ballooned to $585 million — an increase of $260 million, or 80%.

That is not construction inflation. Based on that national construction cost benchmark, inflation would account for approximately $26 million of the increase. That leaves roughly $234 million that deserves a detailed explanation. Was the original estimate grossly underestimated? Has the scope changed substantially? The Governor owes Wisconsin taxpayers an explanation.