(Juneau) Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt provided some recommendations for the Waupun Correctional Institution during a recent WBEV Community Comment program. These recommendations follow the conclusion of an investigation into the facility where four inmates died, and nine staffers were charged in connection to two of the deaths. Schmidt says if he were a member of the state legislature, he would strongly be looking at replacement.
“That’s not my decision to make,” says Schmidt. “I think there’s options there, but what you get with a new facility, some people say that it’s not the building, it’s the people. Well, I disagree with that because the building is a big part of this.”
Schmidt says with an old and linear facility like Waupun Correctional, there is a limited ability to reduce the amount of staffing needed to operate. With a new facility, that would be possible.
“Imagine how many hours of overtime would be less by doing that,” Schmidt says. “In addition to that, a state of the art facility offers you the ability to better care for the staff that you have in that facility.”
The sheriff says the current facility lacks camera systems for proper monitoring, medical needs are not being met, and the current system in place makes it very difficult to interact with inmates. Schmidt says another option would be to renovate the current facility.
“Maybe you tear down some of those buildings inside and build new,” says the sheriff. “Maybe that’s an option. I understand the historical side of it. But I think at the end of the day, they need to really [really] study what is the best option because right now what they’re doing, the governor has said he does not wanna build another prison, but what they’re doing is inhumane to the inmates.”
The sheriff says that if nothing is done with the building, the current conditions will continue.
