A Public Affair

The Crisis in Wisconsin’s Prisons with Steven Wright


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Wisconsin’s prisons continue to operate in a state of “modified movement.” That’s how the Department of Corrections describes conditions that are commonly referred to as lockdown. During this period of “modified movement,” specifically from June 2023 to February 2024, four inmates died in Waupun Correctional Institution. On June 5, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt arrested Waupun warden, Randall Hepp, and eight other Waupun employees. They face misconduct and felony inmate abuse charges.

Today, Allen Ruff speaks with professor Steven Wright who says that the problems at Waupun are just the tip of the iceberg. The Wisconsin prison population has increased over the last few decades. Meanwhile, following Act 10, there has been a rapid decline in the number of people willing to work for the DOC, says Wright. That means that Wisconsin prisons are overcrowded with understaffing rates as high as 60%. 

The DOC’s solution to this understaffing problem has been to keep men in their cells and to cut back on social work staff and medical and rehabilitative services. Wright sees this as a lingering effect of Act 10. But, says Wright, we need to change the way that people conceive of the purpose of prisons in the US as well as address the ways that Black and Native individuals are policed, prosecuted, and sentenced in this country. 

Steven Wright is a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he directs the Constitutional Litigation, Appeals, and Sentencing Project. He is the former co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project and has litigated for the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights acts.

Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

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The post The Crisis in Wisconsin’s Prisons with Steven Wright appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

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A Public AffairBy Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur

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