(Waupun) An inmate who died last week at Waupun Correctional Institution has been identified. A spokesperson with the Department of Corrections says the inmate was 24-year-old Cameron Williams who passed away last Monday. A local medical examiner is still investigating the cause of death. It is the third death at the state prison in the last four months. One of the other two deaths at the prison has been confirmed as suicide.
A group of inmates at the prison filed a federal lawsuit in Milwaukee recently, claiming conditions at the prison amount to cruel and unusual punishment. They claim they cannot get access to health care, are only allowed one shower per week, and are not allowed in-person visits with their families.
Waupun Correctional has been under lockdown since March. Officials with the Department of Corrections say there is no specific timeline for ending it. One of the primary reasons cited is staffing shortages. According to the DOC website, Waupun Correctional has a vacancy rate of 52.8-percent.
Ari Brown with the Wisconsin Policy Forum says many people are incarcerated for revocations due to rule violations and not for committing new crimes.
“These revocations for rule violations were the leading cause for prison admissions in the state they were above thirty-percent of prison admissions every year up until last year,” says Brown.
John McCrae Jones is with ACLU Wisconsin.
“Things like switching jobs without telling your DOC agent, borrowing money, opening a credit card or simply missing a meeting can get you sent back to prison,” says Jones. “And none of which has anything to do with public safety.”
Democrats in the Legislature have proposed a package of bills aimed at improving conditions for incarcerated individuals.
–WRN contributed
