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| Green Bay-area prison, other state facilities over capacity but still operating safely |
| By greenbaypressgazette.com - Hannah O'Brien |
| Published: 10/26/2011 |
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ALLOUEZ — The inmate population at Green Bay's maximum-security prison is at 144 percent of its design capacity, but officials say such overpopulation at state prisons has become the norm. Green Bay Correctional Institution, which was built to hold 749 prisoners, has been home to more than 1,000 inmates since 1999. But Warden Michael Baenen said he doesn't consider the facility overpopulated. "We're more than making do; we're making it work," Baenen said. "We're running safely and efficiently with the population we have, and we've been doing it for a long time." Other maximum-security facilities — Dodge, Waupun and Columbia Correctional Institutions — also are operating above their design capacities. The state Department of Corrections said prisons add beds to cells to accommodate the growing populations. "It's been pretty full for so many years," said Linda Eggert, DOC spokeswoman. "I think they just manage the bed spaces as best they can." The Boscobel correctional facility, with 490 prisoners, is the only maximum-security institution that is not operating above its design capacity of 501. The DOC has no plans to address prison populations, Baenen said. "The Department of Corrections has little to say about our population," the warden said. "We get our population from the courts and from the statutes, and we work with what we get." Green Bay Correctional was built to hold one prisoner in each cell. The facility now has two beds in 148 cells and has created some "barrack-like housing" to accommodate prisoners, Baenen said. The facilities include two 296-bed cell halls; two dormitory units, each with 112- and 54-bed units; a 25-bed treatment unit; and a 150-bed segregation building used for inmate protective, temporary, emergency and disciplinary confinement, according to the prison's 2010 annual report. The prison, with 1,083 inmates as of Friday, has been able to operate normally, Baenen said. But a dozen more prisoners may cause more of a strain. Read More. |
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