Seventh inmate dies at troubled Wisconsin maximum security prison
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Another inmate has died at Wisconsin’s oldest prison, the seventh since 2023 and less than a year after the then-warden and multiple members of his staff were charged with misconduct and felony inmate abuse.
Damien Evans, 23, died Tuesday at the Waupun Correctional Institution, the state Department of Corrections offender website shows. It doesn’t provide any details. A department spokesperson didn’t immediately reply to a Wednesday message seeking comment. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said in an email that his agency is investigating Evans’ death, but that he had no information to share.
Evans was sentenced in 2019 to seven years in prison for armed robbery and an additional two years to be served concurrently for bail jumping, online court records indicate. Both cases were filed in Racine County.
Evans is the seventh Waupun inmate to have died in custody since June 2023. One killed himself, one died of a fentanyl overdose, one died of a stroke, and one died of dehydration and malnutrition. Another inmate, 66-year-old Jay Adkins, died in May. A sixth prisoner, 57-year-old Christopher McDonald, died in August.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office said in an August news release that McDonald’s death appeared to have been a suicide. He was sentenced to 999 years after pleading no contest to being a party to first-degree intentional homicide in 1992. Asked in follow-up emails Wednesday for an update in both Adkins and McDonald, Schmidt said he would not be making any public statements regarding prison investigations unless he decides a news release is warranted.
Prosecutors last year charged warden Randall Hepp with misconduct and eight members of his staff with felony inmate abuse in connection with the deaths of inmates Cameron Williams and Donald Maier. Three of the eight staff members also were charged with misconduct. Hepp subsequently retired.
According to criminal complaints, Williams died of a stroke in October 2023. His body went undiscovered for at least 12 hours.
Maier died of dehydration and malnutrition. He had severe mental health problems but either refused or wasn’t given his medication in the eight days leading up to his February 2024 death.
Federal investigators also have been looking into an alleged smuggling ring involving Waupun prison employees. Gov. Tony Evers’ office has said the probe has resulted in the suspension of nearly a dozen employees. A former prison worker pleaded guilty in September to smuggling cellphones, tobacco and drugs into the facility in exchange for money.
Waupun inmates have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging mistreatment and a lack of health care.
The maximum security prison was built in the 1850s. Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike have been calling for years to close it. Concerns about local job losses and the cost of building a replacement prison have been stymied progress. The prison was built to house up to 882 inmates. The population on Feb. 21 was 760, according to the most recent Department of Corrections data.
Evers, a Democrat, last month proposed a multitiered, $500 million plan for the state’s prisons that includes converting Waupun to a medium security center focused on job training for inmates.
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This story has been updated to correct that Evans is the seventh inmate to die at Waupun Correctional Institution since June 2023, instead of the sixth inmate, and to correct that one inmate killed himself, not two.
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
