MADISON, Wis. — Local officials are redoubling their efforts to push for the state to shut down the troubled Green Bay Correctional Institution.
State lawmakers from the Green Bay area, local elected officials, former inmates and advocates gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to ask the Legislature and the governor to include in the state budget next year a plan to shut down GBCI.
The prison, located in Allouez, is overcrowded, understaffed and in need of expensive repairs. Former inmates complained of rodent infestations, crumbling walls and floors, and flooding. An independent assessment of Wisconsin prisons in 2020 found that GBCI had “failing infrastructure systems throughout the institution that require constant upkeep.”
The prison was built in 1898 and was designed to house 749 people. As of the end of March, GBCI housed more than 1,000 inmates, according to Department of Corrections data. Guard jobs were understaffed by nearly 40%.
Lockdowns put in place at the prison last June have only worsened conditions there. Inmates have been confined to their cells for long periods of time and seen their recreation and shower times limited. The Department of Corrections said it has since lifted most restrictions but that recreation time is still being limited.
Local officials who have been pleading with state government for years to close the prison say those conditions have held inmates back from rehabilitation.
“We should be disgusted in the spaces that our employees are expected to work in,” said Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach. “And we should be disgusted by the fact that the individuals who have to reside in there don’t have the opportunity to reform.”
Prison planner David Robillard, who grew up in Green Bay and has designed prisons across the country, called GBCI a “timebomb.” He said due to the prison’s many outdated design features, the state may be better off building an entirely new prison.
Randy Forsterling, who served eight of his 22 years behind bars at GBCI, pushed back on the idea that Wisconsin needs a new maximum-security prison.
"I don't know why we have to replace a max with a max. We have too many mediums, too many maxes as it is. The majority of inmates, they’re not going to be in there forever. So let’s focus on rehabilitation,” he said. “The more work release centers we have, the better off our state will be."
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ spokesperson, Britt Cudaback, did not say whether the governor intended to put such a plan in the upcoming budget. She did say that Evers has “been clear from the beginning that any plan to close an adult correctional institution must be comprehensive and considered holistically based on the needs of Wisconsin’s adult corrections program.”
The budget Evers approved in July included pay raises for prison guards, and staffing rates have since improved across the state, but Village of Allouez President Jim Rafter said Tuesday that understaffing at GBCI specifically has not improved.
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