WAUPUN – More correctional workers could soon be coming to Waupun Correctional, according to the mayor.
The state prison has been under intense scrutiny, following four inmate deaths in less than a year.
“It’s not great. People are dying,” Rohn Bishop told WTMJ’s Spanning the State on Monday. “(But) when the staffing gets fixed, a lot of these problems will be taken care of.”
Staffing levels have been an issue for about a decade, but Bishop expects improvement, thanks to a recent pay raise signed into law by the state legislature.
“If you go to Waupun Correctional and graduate, you’re making $44/hour,” he explained. “The last graduating class had 270 cadets. I think that will help with the staffing.”
The low staffing numbers are wearing down the staff, according to Bishop.
“The overtime is nuts,” he said. “We need to get the correctional officers some relief. It’ll help morale among the work-staff and it’ll help morale among the inmates as well.”
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