Following the death of an inmate at Waupun Correctional Institution, current conditions at some of the state’s oldest prisons may be getting worse and are being questioned by government officials. Donald Maier died Feb. 22, 2024, the fourth death on record for the facility in the last eight months.
Last November, Gov. Tony Evers made an announcement he would be working with Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr to work towards easing lockdown restrictions and improving overall conditions in prisons across Wisconsin, according to WKOW. Last week, however, Evers announced Carr would be stepping down from his position, prompting a call for new leadership and changes to be made within the correctional system.
Current prison conditions can only be described as dangerous. Many Wisconsin prisons are over-populated, unclean and unsafe. There have been reports of rotting and rusted walls, unclean linens and rodent infestations at a few locations. All of these issues, amongst other, solidify and support activists’ calls for immediate change.
These issues don’t just affect the physical health of inmates. Living in this environment can cause severe mental health issues as well. Inmates facing mental health issues do not receive the support they need during their incarceration, even while conditions may make their symptoms worse. Calls for help are often ignored and if they are heard, it is often too late. Lack of opportunity to have good hygiene, minimal time outside and longer isolating periods have created an environment that sets inmates up to struggle both mentally and physically.
Socioeconomic factors play a large role when it comes to who is actually put in prison. Individuals that come from a lower economic background often lack access to quality legal representation and this inadequacy can result in poor defense and higher incarceration rates for those that come from marginalized communities.
Within the prisons themselves, socioeconomic status can also heavily affect the type of healthcare inmates receive. Inmates that have preexisting conditions that couldn’t be treated outside of prison due to not be able to afford such treatment or not being on an insurance plan often have their symptoms exacerbated by the poor conditions within the prison, The Cap Times cites.
Lastly, these prisons continue to decline in quality as they heavily rely on inmate labor to keep the institution functioning. These inmates are often not paid or severely underpaid for the work they do. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the minimum wage for inmates in Wisconsin is $0.11-0.15 an hour. This labor exploitation only perpetuates the cycle of institutions taking advantage of inmates while abusing them mentally and physically.
If prison conditions remain like this, it will have drastic consequences on the lives of inmates and their families, as well as the communities surrounding them.
There is a large strain on resources within the justice system as it stands, especially when it comes to prison staffing and employment.
If prisons weren’t so overcrowded and poorly maintained, there would be more opportunity to divert funds to areas like crime prevention which could help put an end to the never ending cycle of over-incarcerated communities. The plain human rights violations at these institutions also pose a severe risk to the overall human condition.
Not addressing or fixing the issues associated only perpetuates systemic injustice and furthers the cycle of abuse.
It is critical reforms be instilled within the system to ensure the safety and rehabilitation of inmates. In order to do this there needs to be great change at a more governmental level. Wisconsin lawmakers have been talking for years about the change that needs to happen in the prison system, but this change hasn’t actually materialized.
There is an overall recognition of the issues the system faces, but nothing has actually been done to fix it. The governor and the DOC need to actually do the work they have been promising in order to save the lives of the people inhabiting their prisons.
As of now, the baseline conditions are atrocious. There needs to be improved healthcare — both physical and mental — population control and infrastructure improvements. If inmates are forced to keep living how they have been, they won’t survive. They are serving time and attempting to rehabilitate themselves to be better, more productive members of society. The current system does nothing to aid them on that journey. In fact, it only makes their struggle worse.
Sammie Garrity ([email protected]) is a freshman studying journalism and political science.
