‘Get this damned thing done’: State commission votes on $700M in projects, including reform of Wisconsin prisons

The state building commission approved around $743 million for construction projects across Wisconsin, including $15 million to start work on several corrections facilities and to advance plans to shutter one of the state’s oldest corrections facilities.

Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday that the Wisconsin State Building Commission voted to approve hundreds of millions of dollars for statewide construction projects that will change state prisons, university facilities and government agency buildings. The commission also approved releasing around $110 million through the 2025-27 state budget to plan and design future projects, including $95 million to revamp state agency buildings.

Tuesday’s vote included $15 million for preliminary plans to change six Wisconsin Department of Corrections facilities. The governor’s stated goal is to close Green Bay Correctional Institution, built in the late 1800s, and move juvenile inmates out of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools.

“I’m glad that we’ll be able to move forward with resources from our bipartisan state budget to begin work on critical projects so we can work toward closing GBCI and Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools,” Evers said in a statement. “It’s been a long time coming, and, as we move forward, it’ll continue to be important that the Legislature supports our efforts along the way if we want to prevent further delays and keep this plan moving on time and on schedule.”

Republicans voiced their concerns over parts of the plan related to the prison system’s capacity and how many inmates would be released on supervision, The Associated Press reported. They voted on the plan in hopes of making changes later, with one legislator saying the plan to reduce the overall number of beds was “dangerously unsafe.”

“The $15 million was put forward with the idea there could be a collaborative process,” said state Sen. André Jacque at the meeting. “That’s not what was brought forward to the building commission.”

Republicans had called for a new $1 billion prison, while Evers’ plan would take six years and cost around $500 million, AP reported.

Expressing frustration with Republicans who said they were left out of the development plan, Evers said at the meeting, “We’ve got to get this damned thing done, that’s the bottom line.” The governor said Republicans would still be invited to take part in the planning process moving forward.

The reform plan involves a “domino series” of projects at several DOC facilities to ultimately close GBCI, renovate Waupun Correctional Institution and close Lincoln and Copper Lake Schools, the final item following a 2017 state law, the governor’s office said. DOC facilities have experienced inmate and staff deaths, alleged abuse and investigations in the state’s juvenile facilities.

The governor has called for converting Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools into a medium-security adult facility called Lincoln Correctional Institution. Projects are also planned for Waupun Correctional Institution, Stanley Correctional Institution, Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center and John C. Burke Correctional Center.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration and DOC have begun the process of selecting an architect-engineer of record for corrections projects.

In addition to early plans for DOC projects, the commission approved a list of additional work for state agencies and the Universities of Wisconsin system. Projects include the second phase of the Prairie Springs Science Center at UW-La Crosse and consolidating UW-Milwaukee’s health sciences program into one complex.