GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — On August 31, 1898, Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI) opened its doors as a maximum security prison for adult males. Originally built for 755 inmates; the building now has well over 1,000 inmates.
That means there are two men sharing a cell that was only built for one person.
Overcrowding at the facility isn’t new; it’s been over capacity for the last 20 years. It’s that plus the deteriorating conditions, outdated design, lack of staff and services, reported inhumane conditions, and much more that has created a growing momentum to shut down the 126 year old prison.
Some of those reported inhumane conditions include:
- No recreation time
- No time out of the cells
- Multiple weeks in a row with no showers
- No windows/natural light
- Being forced to stay inside so long that their skin turned grey from lack of sunlight
- Lack of health services
State Representative David Steffen (R-Green Bay) is one of many individuals calling on the state to shut down the prison.
“That building was built at a time in the late 1800’s where all the prisons in the U.S. were geared towards punishment and breaking the inmate. That was the theory on how we handle the incarcerated at the time,” said Rep. Steffen. “But, that has changed. We are much more geared towards some element of rehabilitation so when those individuals are back in the community, they’re less likely to re-offend.”
In 2009, the state did its first concrete study on conditions within the prison. There have now been five total studies which have all reached the same conclusion.
“That facility needs to be closed, and that needs to be a top priority,” said Rep. Steffen. “All five of the prison building codes in Wisconsin and nationally; it failed all of them. Not even the cell doors are locking properly.”
But why close down the building instead of repairing it? Well, only 5% of the building is not in need of repair. For the remaining 95% of the building, repairs would cost $270 million.
“That’s like your building inspector saying ‘your home is condemned’ and you turn to your spouse and say ‘well maybe we should get new hardwood floors’ you wouldn’t think of that. The only option is for this facility to be closed,” said Rep. Steffen.
Prison design today allows for sight lines that the current GBCI does not provide. Inside GBCI are long, cell blocks. Modern prisons have cells in a pod configuration. Within GBCI, inmates have to be moved around and there aren’t safe pathways for them to do that.
Plus, at 30% understaffed and 40% overcrowded, inmates are finding it difficult to get help to rehabilitate themselves. Allouez Village President Jim Rafter is also calling for the institution to close; he recalled a conversation he had with the family of an incarcerated individual.
“A boy who was six months away from graduating high school committed a crime, went to prison, and after six years had not had one classroom activity, even online,” said Rafter. “So the programs that they’re supposed to be having for those who are incarcerated are not happening; at least at a sufficient level.”
Rep. Steffen agreed.
“You’ve got to remember that many of these guys came in as 18, 19, 20 year old’s and they’re exiting as 40 year old’s; they’ve never done an interview. They’ve never filled out an application. They’ve never had a bank account. And they are exiting GBCI without those critical parts of life to be successful,” said Rep. Steffen.
Lack of services is also leading to increased violence inside the walls of the prison. It’s something activist Dant’e Cottingham is all too familiar with. He spent 11 years at GBCI and says gang fights, stabbing, and race wars are the norm at GBCI.
“Green Bay [Correctional Institution], back when I first got there and today, was known as the Gladiator School. It’s called the Gladiator School because a lot of fights and violence happen there,” said Cottingham. “Green Bay [Correctional Institution] has been known for that for so long. That’s the culture of Green Bay [Correctional Institution].
Cottingham said it’s due to the lack of mental health services that he believes the violence continues. Rafter recounted a time in 2019 when he toured the facility with Governor Tony Evers.
“As we were going through the tour, we came to the mental health unit. Governor Evers asked ‘how many people here have mental health needs?’ and they said ‘about 60%’ so that’s 600 people. Evers said ‘how many beds do we have?’ and they said ’13’ so the Governor said ‘well, what do we do for everyone else?’ and the gentleman shrugged his shoulders and said ‘we do the best we can.'” said Rafter.
Terressa Russell’s son Darion Person has been at GBCI for 7 years.
“He’s told me himself that he’s going to be messed up when he comes home; he’s talking about mentally,” said Russell. “I’m signing my son up for counseling and all of that when he gets out because he didn’t get the proper things he was supposed to be getting before coming back into society. He’s going to be more broken coming out than he was going into prison; and that’s just sad.”
It isn’t even just the inmates that are suffering. It’s staff too; working under the direction of the state Department of Corrections.
“There is a very big problem with DOC not allowing whistleblower activity within that prison. They [staff at GBCI] are afraid of being punished in different ways by leadership within the prison, by the DOC, if anyone speaks to the media or if anyone speaks to me,” said Rep. Steffen. “So with everyone I speak to, the very first thing they say is ‘you can never use my name’ and ‘you can never tell the warden what I’m about to tell you’ because of retribution.”
The system on the inmate side isn’t any better.
“You have an inmate complaint system that is essentially governed by the same people you’re writing the complaints about. It’s one entity; it should be a separate entity. It should be an entity outside the Wisconsin Department of Corrections but it’s not. You’re writing a complaint about somebody, and that person is in the office with the same person you’re writing the complaint about. So it’s a joke. People really don’t write complaints because you know your complaint is not going to be adequately investigated.”
Rep. Steffen has been made aware of several large scale lawsuits coming out in the near term.
“We are going to start seeing a flood of very, very expensive lawsuits against DOC and the State of Wisconsin relating to the issues at GBCI,” said Rep. Steffen. So not only are we going to have to deal with staffing issues at this facility, not only are we dealing with inmate care issues, and the costs, we’re now going to have multi-million dollar lawsuits we will have to deal with on a regular basis. This issue does not get better just by waiting.”
Although there have been several calls to shut down the prison, what would happen next? What happens to the inmates? Once the decision is made to close GBCI, it takes at least 4 years to build a replacement prison due to architectural and engineering design, and construction.
“It first starts with identifying a site,” said Rep. Steffen. “That site won’t be on the same site, because it’s just too small. So we have to find a new place. Will it be in Brown County, or will it be in southeast Wisconsin? There’s a variety of places we could put it but we have to put it where we can get staff.”
Then, what would happen at the current site of GBCI?
“We would create a mixed-use development with corporate, residential, water features, kind of like a Central Park from Webster going down to the river,” said Rafter. “It would have pop up parks, pop up restaurants, a distillery, a hotel, stores, things where people can come and experience community.”
This development would create about 1 thousand new jobs.
“The development, according to St. Norbert College, which did an economic impact study on what was designed in 2018, would have generated $150 million in taxable property. Whereas today, it’s $0 because it’s a state owned facility,” said Rafter. “By today’s dollars and the way real estate is going, I think it’s safe to say that on 60 acres, we probably would have well over $300 million, which would generate about $2.1 million annually to the Village of Allouez.”
Closing the prison would save a lot of money, not even just because of the new development at the site.
“Not only would the cost make up for itself, it would end up saving us money. As crazy as it sounds that ‘how on earth could you spend a half billion dollars on a new prison and it saves money?’ it’s there. Because of the fact that new prisons operate with 40% fewer staff. They use technology and the layout is designed much differently now.”
But there are some people who don’t want GBCI to close.
“The people who have told me they disagree with closing it, love it for its historic value. And to those folks, I promise that historic value is going to stay there because it is on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Rafter. ” So that big front building, if it closes and Allouez is able to recreate and redevelop that into something special, that front building will be repurposed. And it will become very special and it will adhere to the Allouez tagline of being historically progressive.”
Steffen says closing the prison and building a new one will not only create a positive outcome for inmates, but for the entire community.
“We want to make sure that when those inmates leave, they are in a better condition to succeed than when they went in. 90% of those inmates are going to be back in our community. We don’t want to have a more dangerous individual released from GBCI and put back in our community only to have a high chance of victimizing the community again. So we have to have an emphasis on those rehabilitative and assistive services and the mental health, anger management, and drug treatment programs that are available at modern prisons.”
Earlier this year, Governor Tony Evers said closing the prison would be “premature” and that he instead wants to focus on system-wide prison reform in the state instead of closing Green Bay.
As republicans and democrats alike have been pushing for the closure of GBCI, momentum for change continues to grow and build.
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