Signaling end to lockdowns, Waupun and Green Bay prisons resume visits, recreation

After months of public scrutiny and backlash from advocates and correctional staff, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections signaled an end to lockdowns at two of the state's most beleaguered maximum-security prisons.

The agency announced a return to in-person visitation at Waupun Correctional Institution on Monday, along with an increase in recreation time for those held at Green Bay Correctional Institution starting July 28.

“WCI and GBCI continue to make positive changes as the facilities resume normal operations,” Jared Hoy, secretary of the Department of Corrections, said in a statement. “Experienced staff continue to support newer officers to help operations run smoothly and offer more opportunities to those in our care.”

The two prisons have been the subject of persistent complaints from incarcerated people and their advocates since lockdowns began last year. There have been four high-profile deaths at Waupun in the last year and a homicide at Green Bay in 2022, with many advocates and loved ones arguing that the lockdown conditions exacerbated mental health challenges for those incarcerated, cutting them off from vital psychological and medical services.

Months after Gov. Tony Evers and DOC promised to lift restrictions and increase staff in Wisconsin prisons late last year, the two prisons are transitioning out of a state of "modified movement."

Modified movement, also known as lockdowns, were introduced due to security concerns at the understaffed prisons, according to corrections officials. Former DOC Secretary Kevin Carr previously disputed the use of the word "lockdown" to describe what prisoners reported as severe limitations on recreation time, visitation, showers, programming and other services.

Green Bay Correctional started offering increased recreation periods late last month with the aim of returning to normal operations at the end of this month.

The facility restarted in-person visitations in November.

Following the footsteps of Green Bay, Waupun Correctional will do the same, offering visits each weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.