Lawmakers grill Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr on why the Green Bay prison remains open despite its issues

MADISON - Lawmakers grilled Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr about what would happen if the 125-year-old Green Bay Correctional Institution were to face "structural failures," because of its advanced age and need for repairs.

The facility has been the subject of criticism and concern for years, both because of the cost of upgrades and worries over security due to its outdated design.

Lawmakers on Tuesday asked Carr for answers during a state budget hearing at the Capitol about why the prison is still in use.

Sen. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, asked Carr why there hasn't been any movement on getting inmates out of the facility, which was highlighted in a 2020 report by the department as being in need of extensive repairs or decommissioning

"The state should carefully weigh the value of continuing to invest in aged outdated facilities versus investing in replacement facilities that would improve safety and security," she said. "So this is the second budget we haven't seen any movements on any of that."

Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, said the facility has been in need of repairs for more than 20 years and that it needs to be made a priority. He asked Carr what the department would do if there was a structural failure of some sort at the facility.

"We would do everything that we possibly can to address the structural failure, to avoid having to move anybody. Because, quite honestly, with our vacancy issues, we just don't have the ability to move folks in our care to facilities where we do have some bed vacancies," Carr said.

Corrections Department faces a housing crunch

Carr acknowledged when he took office several years ago that GBCI is more expensive to operate than a modern facility would be. But it's well-known that Wisconsin prisons have little extra space for more inmates, meaning that closing GBCI would mean the state would have to find housing for the inmates currently housed in Allouez.

Maximum security inmates can't be moved into facilities housing medium or low-security inmates, he said during the briefing, and other maximum security institutions can't take in more inmates.

More:Close Green Bay Correctional, reduce Wisconsin's prison population? The effort faces uphill battle

"We just don't have the ability to move folks in our care to facilities where we do have some bed vacancies," Carr said. "Because we don't have the staff to take care of them."

The DOC did not immediately respond to additional questions Tuesday afternoon.

The Green Bay Correctional Institution, located in Allouez, was a bicycle factory when the state purchased it and began operating it as a prison in the 1890s. It's been continuously operating since then, and is now a maximum security facility.

Designed for 749 inmates, the prison housed 945 inmates as of February 28, according to the DOC website.

More:Bipartisan support grows for closing Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez

Lawmakers have previously called for the prison to close and to replace it with a new one that would be significantly less expensive to run. Just last month, a bipartisan group of local officials and lawmakers signed on to a letter promoting the closure of the facility, saying it does a poor job of rehabilitating prisoners and preparing them to return to society. Some say it's inefficient and falls short of its goal of helping inmates become people who are motivated to avoid prison in the future.

But the facility's age isn't the only concern.

The prison was the scene of a homicide in October when one inmate killed another.  It also has been the scene of corrections officers being assaulted by inmates; an officer was unable to work after he was assaulted by an inmate who threw a kettle of scalding water on the staffer in a kitchen area in 2016.

Reports highlight risks in the Green Bay facility

Both Ballweg and Dallman pointed to a 2020 report that suggested decommissioning either GBCI or the Waupun Correctional Institution, out of concerns over how old and outdated the facilities are. Though the Waupun facility is older, the report highlighted Green Bay as a "higher priority for replacement."

In particular, there are a number of concerns over the condition of the Green Bay facility, including cells meant for one person being used for two, and a lack of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"Operational inefficiencies are directly related to being constructed in a different era of prison design," the report said.

The report also highlighted that simply upgrading Green Bay likely isn't an option, and would be "difficult, disruptive and costly."

"Unless upgrades include extensive demolition and reconstruction of existing housing, program, and support services buildings, they will not begin to achieve the safety, security, efficiency, and flexibility found in modern correctional institution design," the report said.

Dallman said the recommendations in the report should be seriously considered by the Governor and lawmakers. What if, he said, the roof were to collapse in a portion of the building?

"We're already way over capacity in that facility and every facility around our state, so what are we going to do with the inmates?" he said.

Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lawmakers grill Corrections Secretary over aging Green Bay prison