Months-long lockdowns continue at two Wisconsin prisons, restricting prisoner movement and leaving them without fresh air and exercise. Wisconsin’s top prison official wrote to the governor in 2015 with a dire warning: The state prisons were dangerously understaffed, imperiling both guards and inmates. The number of people employed by state prisons fell in 2022 to its lowest point in more than two decades, according to U.S. census data. As the situation in the prisons worsened, the calls to raise guards’ pay started to receive support from Republicans. Mario Koran is examining the Wisconsin Department of Corrections as part of The New York Times’ Local Investigations Fellowship.

Source: New York Times February 02, 2024 10:05 UTC