Pleas to correct prison policies reaches state lawmakers

A hearing at the state capitol yesterday on the conditions at Wisconsin State Prisons brought former inmates, prison employees and families of those incarcerated together to ask lawmakers for an overhaul of the system currently in place.

Some of the concerns brought up are having an independent group to hear prisoner concerns, more treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues among prisoners, and a unified set of rules among all facilities, with one attending person saying each prison is like it’s own planet with it’s own rules.

The hearing comes on the heels of serious issues at several Wisconsin facilities including four deaths of inmates and the firing of the warden and several other employees at the Waupun Correctional Institute, and the killing of a guard at the Lincoln Hills juvenile facility in Irma, Wisconsin.

One attendee told lawmakers, problems are “everywhere” and there needs to be a bipartisan effort to fix them.