Wisconsin’s second-oldest prison, built in the 1800s and long targeted for closure, would finally be shuttered under a new plan from Gov. Tony Evers that proposes sweeping changes to the state’s troubled correctional system without building a new facility, as some lawmakers have long called for.
Evers presented his plan as the best and only option to address the state’s aging facilities, which have been beset with deaths of incarcerated people, assaults against staff including one that left a juvenile guard dead, lockdowns, lawsuits, federal investigations, criminal charges against prison staff, resignations and rising maintenance costs.
