Gov. Evers calls for release of $15 million to revamp correctional facilities

Gov. Tony Evers is calling on the State Building Commission Tuesday to release $15 million from the state budget to revamp Wisconsin’s correctional facilities. The plan is to modernize Wisconsin’s existing prisons as opposed to building new facilities. Evers’ Administration said trying to build brand-new prisons would have cost taxpayers roughly $1 billion and would have taken almost a decade to complete. The $15 million that Evers is asking the commission to release would go towards preliminary planning and design reports for capital projects at six correctional facilities including the Waupun Correctional Institution and the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools. Evers has proposed transforming the Waupun Correctional Institution into a “vocational village” and closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution and Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools.