DARLINGTON – Gov. Tony Evers said the state may seek out an independent investigation into the growing number of deaths inside Wisconsin prisons.
Questioned at an event Wednesday at Darlington Elementary School in southwestern Wisconsin, Evers said the state is waiting on internal investigations into the three deaths that occurred in recent months at one of the facilities, and if needed, the state would pursue an outside, independent investigation as well.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Maybe if there’s a need, we’ll do that.”
It was Evers’ first public comments on the prison situation in recent months. His office and that of Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr have declined to comment on the ongoing issues.
There has been an outcry over state prisons, run by the DOC, in recent months, with several deaths, allegations of mistreatment and months-long lockdowns that have largely confined those incarcerated to their cells.
Waupun, one of the state’s five maximum-security prisons, has been the site of three in-custody deaths — one confirmed as suicide — during its monthslong state of lockdown.