MADISON – Department of Corrections (DOC) Secretary Matt Frank
announced Friday that the federal court is satisfied with changes made at
the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF) and has approved releasing
the agency from all court monitoring in one year. A new agreement approved
by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb terminates nearly all provisions of a
2002 settlement agreement regarding WSPF. Monitoring over provisions
related to inmates with serious mental illness will end in one year.
“Today's agreement brings us closer to the end of a long chapter, and
it marks a major step in our efforts to broaden the mission of the
Wisconsin Secure Program Facility,” Secretary Frank said. “The facility
will continue to serve an important purpose in managing assaultive
offenders who pose a threat to the safety of our staff. However, we also
are ready to proceed with additional improvements to make the facility
more like other maximum-security institutions in our system.”
The original settlement agreement, signed in 2002, addressed changes
for the maximum-security prison. A court-appointed monitor was named to
oversee the settlement agreement, which was reached over a lawsuit brought
by inmates in 2000 over conditions at the facility. The amended agreement
ends almost all provisions of the 2002 agreement. Monitoring over the
DOC’s screening process for inmates with serious mental illness, a process
that already exists to ensure that seriously mentally ill inmates aren’t
placed at WSPF, will end in February 2008.
Major changes have taken effect at WSPF in how inmates are managed,
including replacement of the old level system that had been designed to
modify inmate behavior. The amended agreement also lets the agency proceed
immediately with additional enhancements to make WSPF more like other
maximum-security prisons in the system, with general-population,
maximum-security inmates to be housed there for the first time in the
facility’s history. The facility has traditionally been underutilized,
housing 300-370 inmates even with a capacity for more than 500.
“The Warden, his leadership staff and all of our employees at WSPF are
dedicated and committed to managing inmates in a safe, secure and humane
manner,” Secretary Frank said. “Today’s agreement lets us focus our
attention away from litigation and toward continued improvements at the
facility.”
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