(Waupun) Governor Tony Evers will propose a nearly $500-million-dollar, multi-step plan for Wisconsin’s corrections system as part of the two-year state budget he’ll announce Tuesday.
“I’m announcing a Domino series of facility changes, improvements and modernization efforts across Wisconsin’s correctional institutions that will enable us to finally close one of our oldest institutions,” says Evers. “And we’ll save Wisconsin taxpayers about a billion dollars right up front by not building a new facility that won’t help us anytime soon because it won’t be done for another decade.”
The governor’s plan will convert Waupun Correctional into a state-of-the-art, medium-security institution that would be designated as the state’s first vocational village. Based on models from other states like Louisiana and Missouri, vocational villages emphasize vocational training and workforce readiness to ensure that individuals who have completed their time in Wisconsin’s correctional institutions have the resources, training, and skills to join the workforce.
The prison would close temporarily while major renovations were conducted, including demolishing the existing cell halls and replacing them with modern housing for 600 at medium security and establishing space for the vocational village. The project is estimated to cost $245.3-million-dollars and be ready to open in 2031.
The proposal would also convert John Burke Correctional in Waupun to a female institution, adding 300 women’s beds.
–WRN contributed
