WAUPUN – Waupun Correctional Institution, which has been on lockdown for 10 months, is lifting its restriction on showers as part of a wider easing of lockdown measures at prisons, the Department of Corrections announced Wednesday.
However, advocates for people incarcerated at the Waupun and Green Bay prisons say there have been few substantive changes since Gov. Tony Evers and DOC Secretary Kevin Carr announced in November plans to begin lifting restrictions.
Waupun Correctional Institution went on lockdown, or what the DOC refers to as a period of “modified movement,” in March. Green Bay Correctional Institution went on lockdown in June.
Wisconsin prisons are allowed to suspend standards required by law — except those related to use of force, firearms or “incapacitating agents” — if there is an emergency or disturbance “that prevents the normal functioning of the institution,” according to state law.
Under the lockdown, the Waupun prison has not had to provide prisoners two “bathing periods” per week, as is normally required under state law.