(Waupun) The mayor of Waupun argues there is no need to talk about shutting down Waupun Correctional Institution in the wake of criminal investigations into the deaths of four prison inmates. The warden and eight staff members were charged last week specifically in connection with two deaths, one of them classified as a homicide.
Mayor Rohn Bishop believes those deaths were the byproduct of staffing issues at the prison that governors and state legislators on both sides of the aisle have done nothing about over the years. He says the 176-year-old prison should not be shut down simply because of its age.
“You know it needs a modernization on the interior…the cell halls have probably outlived their usefulness and could use some work,” says Bishop. “But I think the visitor center is fairly new. It’s got, it’s got nice new areas but it is an old building. But I don’t think the building and the age of the building has anything to do with what was going wrong in the prison.”
Bishop says village of Allouez officials want to shut down Green Bay Correctional Institution which is in a prime real estate area that can be redeveloped. However, he says Waupun Correctional is in the middle of the city surrounded by homes.
