State won't meet prison rape law guidelines

By Gretchen Schuldt

The State Building Commission chaired by Gov. Scott Walker rejected Department of Corrections' recommendations that would help two prisons comply with Prison Rape Elimination Act guidelines, records show.

And the Republican Legislature went along.

DOC requested $9.4 million to replace Adams and Harris Halls at Taycheedah Correctional Institution. Both have numerous problems stemming in part from their age –  they were opened in the early 1900s – and are at their population capacity or over.

In addition, according to DOC's budget request, "Adams Hall also has a lack of cameras making it non-compliant with Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) guidelines."

The State Building Commission recommended no money be spent to replace or renovate the building, but called for Walker's Department of Administration to "conduct a comprehensive long range master plan of DOC facilities."

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The commission also recommended the state entirely reject a $20 million request for the first phase of a housing unit replacement project at Fox Lake Correction Institution.

Citing a litany of problems with the existing units, DOC said in its budget request, "The layout of the older buildings has been problematic and each building requires two sergeants, where the newer buildings in the DOC system with this security level contain more beds and can be staffed with a single sergeant. Building layouts are not fully compliant with federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) guidelines."

That request, too, was rejected. Again, the commission recommended a long-range facilities study.

The Legislature earmarked $600,000 for the study.

Walker Administration officials, in at least a public relations nod to the prison rape problem, said they disbanded the DOC internal investigative team that uncovered abuses at the state's juvenile prisons so DOC could put more effort into preventing and investigating sexual assaults behind bars. Leaders of the internal team said their jobs were changed because they had done their jobs too well, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.​

Updated Oct. 27 - Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook contends the posted below is misleading because, he said, it misinterprets a statement  in the department’s 2017-19 capital budget request.

WJI stands by the post.

The statement was a direct quote from the budget request: "Adams Hall also has a lack of cameras making it non-compliant with Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) guidelines."

Cook said an audit based on a November 2015 site visit found the prison PREA-compliant.

No mention of the audit was included in the Taycheedah budget request.

The department’s budget request was not meant to bring the prison into compliance, "but rather to build on our current compliance by examining ways that we can exceed standards and create an even safer environment for staff and inmates," he wrote.

DOC takes a conservative approach when doing self-assessments of PREA compliance, he said. The disputed quote “reflects DOC’s opinion of its compliance, not the results of the audit, which is the only opinion which affects our statutory compliance,” Cook said in another email. (Emphasis added)