(Waupun) The mayor of Waupun is highlighting a few key changes that need to be made at Waupun Correctional. The state prison has been in the headlines in the wake of criminal investigations into the deaths of four prison inmates.
Multiple issues were highlighted during a press conference by Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt which included a lack of documentation, lack of proper staffing, lack of training staff, lack of accountability, and lack of procedures being followed for proper cell checks. Similar issues were noted at Green Bay Correctional, which was investigated in Brown County.
Schmidt recommended renovating both facilities housing units or close and replace the prisons. Waupun Mayor Rohn Bishop has been a vocal supporter that the Waupun prison should not be shut down because of its age. He says what the facility needs is more staffing.
“Once you get the staffing fixed then a lot of the problems in the prison will take care of themselves,” says Bishop. “The prisoners know that there’s not enough correctional officers and they’re taking advantage of it.”
Bishop also recommends connecting Waupun Correctional with city water.
“You read in the report how bad the water is in the prison…everybody who works there knows to bring their own water from home because Waupun…the city…has the best drinking water in the state…we have the only reverse osmosis drinking water system in all of Wisconsin,” says Bishop. “The prisons have never hooked up to the city water because they didn’t want to pay for it. They have their own water tower…and they’re speaking of rust floating in their water. That’s some of the inhumane treatment and that falls at the feet of the department of corrections in Madison. Because the city has been asking the prisons forever to just buy our water.”
Bishop notes that the city would make money in that deal but adds that the state would be able to set how much they would pay Waupun for the water because they can determine what their water rate would be.
