Governor Tony Evers at a workforce listening session in Wausau. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
MADISON, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – Governor Tony Evers’ biennial budget for 2025-27 includes a call for prison reform. The plan asks for the closure of Green Bay Correctional Institution, the conversion of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools from youth facilities to adult male prisons, and the transformation of Waupun Correctional Institution into a modern facility that provides offenders with vocational training.
According to the governor, those improvements will be impossible without the simultaneous expansion of recidivism-reduction initiatives.
As of February 7, there were little over 23,000 people in Wisconsin’s prisons. According to the Evers Administration, that figure is likely to rise to 24,000 within the following two years. Evers stated that the objective of his reform plan is to make communities across the state safer while also saving money.
“About 90% of the people incarcerated will be released back into our communities after they’ve completed their sentences, so we must reduce the likelihood that people will commit another crime when they’re out in our communities,” Evers said. “Our work to prevent people from reoffending must start long before they ever leave our correctional institutions.”
In his budget, the governor proposes significant modifications to Wisconsin’s two oldest adult prisons, Green Bay Correctional Institution and Waupun Correctional Institution. The two facilities were constructed in the 1800s and have recently seen inmate deaths and extended lockdowns.
Evers proposes knocking down the existing cell halls and replacing them with 600 medium security beds. DOC will next extend the prison’s job and workforce training programs, transforming it into what Hoy refers to as a “vocational village”. He stated that inmates will learn trades including as welding, building, and engine maintenance.
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