State could spend $700,000 on prison

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By Associated Press

Published: 05/07/2003

Wisconsin could be forced to spend $700,000 to air-condition cells at its toughest prison to comply with a deal that settled a lawsuit inmates filed over their living conditions, according to the Department of Administration.
The $700,000 is in addition to the $3.4 million Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed spending to retrofit the prison with indoor and outdoor recreational facilities as also required by the settlement.
The required improvements come at a time when the state is grappling with a $3.2 billion budget deficit.
'It's going to end up costing us millions of dollars at a time when we don't have millions of dollars to spend on special amenities for the state's most hardened criminals,' said Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin. He opposed the settlement requiring the changes.
The former Supermax prison was touted as the ultimate facility to house Wisconsin's worst criminals when it opened in 1997 at a cost of $47 million.
But inmates filed a lawsuit, claiming the prison's tough conditions violated the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Former Gov. Scott McCallum last year reached a settlement to end the suit, promising to change the name, build outdoor exercise areas and expand face-to-face visits with friends and family members.
The settlement also barred Department of Corrections officials from referring to the prison - now called the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility - as a place to house 'the worst of the worst.'
The settlement requires that cells be no hotter than 80 to 84 degrees during heat waves.
Ed Garvey, the attorney who represented inmates, said he planned to push the state to air-condition the cells to meet that requirement. He said cells can reach temperatures in the mid-90s in the summer with almost no air circulation, which can negatively affect the health of inmates on mood-altering drugs.
He said he had no sympathy for the state having to spend money to comply with the agreement amid its budget problems because state officials set out the build the toughest prison they could possibly manage - and succeeded.
'All they forgot about was the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution,' Garvey said.
Doyle's capital budget includes the $3.4 million for the recreational facilities.
The state has not allocated any money to cover the possible costs of air-conditioning the cells. But the Department of Administration estimates the project would cost $700,000, said Daniel Stephans, project manager on the changes required under the settlement.
The capital budget is awaiting approval by the Legislature's budget writing committee to be included in the larger $49 billion budget Doyle proposed for the two-year period that begins July 1.
The final budget needs approval by the full Legislature and Doyle to become law.
Corrections spokesman Bill Clausius said the department was looking for a cheaper way to build the indoor and outdoor recreational facilities, but they would be built to comply with the settlement.
None of Wisconsin's prisons are currently air-conditioned for inmates, and officials are also considering alternatives such as fans and dehumidifiers to cool the cells at Boscobel, Clausius said.
But the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit could ultimately decide if the prison gets air conditioning.
Inmates are typically sent to Boscobel for disciplinary reasons and are kept in segregation in their cells 23 hours a day. Currently, the only recreational facility available to them is a poured concrete room that has grills at the top allowing air and sunshine in.
Tentative plans for the outdoor facility call for a concrete pad enclosed by a fence on all sides, including the top. It would include cameras to monitor inmates.
The plan also includes insulating the current recreational area and heating it to create an indoor recreational room that complies with the settlement.
Stephans said the changes were designed as a no-frills solution to bring the prison in compliance with the order.
Wisconsin faces a $3.2 billion deficit for the period through June 30, 2005 because projected revenue does not cover requested spending.
Though the state expects to begin the projects during the next two years, the prison costs will not immediately affect Wisconsin's budget woes.
The department plans to issue bonds to raise the money needed for construction. The state would then pay off the bonds over time, likely to begin in the next two-year budget that begins July 1, 2005.
Doing that would likely add roughly $300,000 a year to the state's expenses until the bonds are paid off, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the proposed changes were minimal considering the human rights group Amnesty International once rated Boscobel one of the worst maximum security prisons in the country.
'The problem is we built a facility that functions poorly and because of it, we're paying the price now,' Pocan said.

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