JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered a former Wisconsin prison warden implicated in an inmate’s death to pay a $500 fine to resolve the case after concluding he has no criminal record and didn’t realize his guards weren’t following policy.
Prosecutors charged former Waupun Correctional Institution Warden Randall Hepp and multiple members of his staff in June 2024 in the deaths of inmates Cameron Williams and Donald Maier.
Hepp was charged with felony misconduct in connection with Maier’s death, a count punishable by up to three-and-a-half years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Maier died of dehydration and malnutrition in solitary confinement in February 2024 after guards turned off the water in his cell, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators said Hepp failed to ensure his staff followed policy.
Dodge County District Attorney Andrea Will reduced the charge Monday to a misdemeanor count of violating laws governing a state or county institution in exchange for Hepp’s no contest plea. The new charge is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. Will told Judge Martin Devries she reduced the charge because Hepp was well respected within the state Department of Corrections and didn’t know guards weren’t following policy.
“We have to make a decision about where to spend our resources and where to extend our resources and it’s not an easy thing to charge people in leadership of an institution,” Will later told reporters.
DeVries ordered Hepp to pay the $500 fine and court costs but didn’t sentence him to jail. The judge cited his service record, his lack of a criminal record and his “subpar employees” who failed to follow policy. The judge called Hepp’s prosecution “symbolic.”
Hepp’s attorney, Michael Steinle, told the judge Hepp was “extremely remorseful” and while a misdemeanor conviction might not mean much to a lot of people it does to him. Hepp said he understood the plea bargain and waived his right to a trial. He and Steinle left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
A ‘slap on the wrist’
Maier’s mother, Jeanette Maier, called Hepp’s sentence a “slap on the wrist” and said her son had been treated worse than a caged animal.
“Nothing can bring my son back but I like to think we as a society would at least learn something from this tragedy so it never happens to someone else’s son,” Maier said in a statement.
Warden’s staff charged in deaths
Eight members of Hepp’s staff were charged in June with abuse or misconduct in the deaths of Williams or Maier. Online court records show charges were dismissed against one of them this month and another pleaded guilty in September to a reduced count of misdemeanor violating laws governing a penal institution and was assessed a $250 fine. The remaining cases are pending.
Williams died of a stroke while in solitary confinement at Waupun in October 2023. His body was not discovered for at least 12 hours. According to court documents, Williams told an inmate advocate three days before he died that he needed to go to a hospital but no action was taken. He had fallen in the shower two days earlier and crawled back to his cell. A day before, he had collapsed on the way back to his cell but neither fall was documented. No one checked on him the night he died.
Multiple inmates have died at Waupun since 2023
The prison, with a stone exterior and high, castle-like guard towers, opened in 1854 and has long been a target for closure. Seven inmates, including Williams and Maier, have died there since 2023. One killed himself, one died of a fentanyl overdose and one died of what investigators suspect was suicide. Two more deaths are under investigation.
A federal investigation into smuggling at the prison has so far netted at least one former employee who pleaded guilty to smuggling cellphones and drugs in exchange for money. Inmates have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions and a lack of health care.
Wisconsin’s governor has refused calls to shutter the prison
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has rejected calls to shutter the facility, despite the problems. He has said he wants broader criminal justice reform and a plan to house the facility’s roughly 1,700 inmates.
Hepp’s lawyer said senior guards at Waupun refuse to work in the solitary confinement unit, leaving it to junior guards and guards brought in from other prisons to deal with staff shortages. Steinle said problems will continue at Waupun until a new prison is built.
“Things happen in these restricted housing units, obviously,” the judge said. “But clearly this is not what you expect as far as treatment of human beings.”
