The leader of a Wisconsin community where a troubled maximum security prison resides is “cautiously optimistic” that lawmakers will be able to close the facility in this year’s state budget.
The Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez is nearly 130 years old, having first opened along the upper Fox River in 1898. Allouez Village Board President Jim Rafter told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the prison is understaffed, overpopulated and outdated for modern prison standards.
“It’s been time to close GBCI for a very long time,” he said. “It’s not a safe place. It’s a danger to staff. It’s a danger to those incarcerated there.”
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The prison was designed to hold 749 people, according to the state Department of Corrections. But the latest population report said there are currently 1,131 people incarcerated in the facility.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called for closing the prison in his recent biennial budget proposal. Republicans in the state Legislature removed the prison closure from Evers’ budget along with roughly 600 other items.
Permanently closing the prison has been a debate in the Capitol for years. But this year, Rafter said, he’s “cautiously optimistic” that legislation to close the prison might actually make it into the biennial budget.
State Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, represents the 30th District, which covers the prison. Wall said he expects the facility’s closure to ultimately make it into the state budget. But disagreements lie in exactly how to go about replacing the facility.
Wall said Evers’ proposal would renovate existing facilities to accommodate the prison’s population. Meanwhile, the Republican proposal is to build a new prison, likely in the Green Bay area, Wall said.
“I think both parties are agreed that we ought to close the prison in Allouez,” he said. “That’s progress. It’s hard to know what you’re working for unless you know what the goal is. But there might be some disagreement on the best way to go about this.”
Wall said his father worked at the prison for 34 years and that any proposal should offer people currently employed there the opportunity to transfer to other corrections facilities across the state.
As lawmakers debate what would take the place of the aging prison, Rafter thinks it would be “inappropriate” to consider Allouez for any replacements. He said his village, which is sandwiched between Bellevue, De Pere, Green Bay and the Fox River, lacks enough land for building a modern prison.
“The job of corrections is to protect the community and to help those incarcerated to become better versions of themselves,” Rafter said. “I’m very hopeful that’s what happens.”
