The $500 million dollar plan by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to revamp the state’s prison system is underway, but only in the most modest fashion. In October 2025, a bipartisan group at the State Building Commission released $15 million to start the years-long process.

However, Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on the rest of the plan, which would call for reducing overall prison capacity and adding more work release options for non-violent offenders.

Green Bay Correctional Institution and Waupun Correctional Institution are two of the oldest prisons in the country still holding inmates, and studies have shown time and again the buildings are not safe for staff or prisoners. But building new prisons is expensive, and closing down prisons is not politically expedient when every election cycle can quickly shift focus to law and order.

Here & Now asked the leading candidates if they would continue Evers’ plan to reform Wisconsin’s prison system.

“I watched that plan be developed. I have great, great respect for the team at the Department of Corrections who has put that plan together along with Gov. Evers’ administration, and we need to get moving on that. It might not be perfect, but nothing ever is when it comes to corrections. It’s a very difficult situation, but we need to make improvements on that. We need to modernize that system. It is costing us more now to keep the old system in place than it would be to build a new system and get that rolling,” said former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes, a Democratic candidate.

“Yeah, so with Green Bay, I know that there are a number of safety concerns, structural concerns. Of course, I mean, we can’t have people, or even whether you’re a person who’s housed at that facility or a person who’s working at that facility, we can’t have people in substandard conditions. So the overhaul of smaller facilities, more regional facilities, I think that might get us to a place where we can more effectively rehabilitate people. And that has to be our baseline as well, ensuring that rehabilitation actually happens,” said former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, a Democratic candidate.

“I think it’s important to look at reducing our prison population while also ensuring that those who are at the Department of Corrections have opportunities to be able to transition and be safe in their work environments. And so I will certainly look at some of the plans that the governor has now. But overall, it’s important that we look at transition programs and ways that we can keep those who are incarcerated and those who are working in our prisons safe,” said state Rep. Francesca Hong, a Democratic candidate.

“Absolutely. We absolutely have to make sure that we are doing what’s best for people within our prison system and correction system and it needs an overhaul,” said Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a Democratic candidate.

“I think we need to continually try to create that balance where there is need for secure detention. And where there’s need for employees of the correction system to have the right tools at their disposal. We need to create those, ’cause we have these 150-year-old prisons and things that we need to do and to make investments on. But at the same time, I think we also need — and I think the governor has done this too — we need you to look at the alternatives to incarceration. We need to work with our partners at the local level to ensure that there is a pathway that doesn’t just ensure that what we have is the last resort, which is where we’re putting people in prison and locking them up,” said former Wisconsin Department of Administration Sec. Joel Brennan, a Democratic candidate.

“We have to reform the Department of Corrections. Gov. Evers, when he ran against Gov. Walker, he said, “I am going to take care of that, including Lincoln Hills.” He has not followed through on it. And when you look at the debacle over in Waupun with — I think there’s been a couple deaths over there — I mean that’s unacceptable. We need reform in the Department of Corrections. I will — I don’t know that I’ll go in the same direction as Gov. Evers, but clearly we have to reform our correctional system,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican candidate.

“We absolutely need to revisit how we do corrections here in the state of Wisconsin. When I served in the state Legislature years ago, Grover Norquist came to Wisconsin to talk about how we needed to do criminal justice reform. And there’s not many times where I can say I agree with Grover Norquist. So, we should be looking at how do we make sure that those less violent offenders aren’t just spending as much time in our care, which costs us a lot more money to have them in the prison,” said Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley, a Democratic candidate.

“I think we need to right size the correction system, and we have to get serious about safety. In this state, we have pursued policies that are not only not evidence-based, but that really undermine public safety. It is how we incarcerate people, it is how long, and it is the lack of services and training to help people succeed when they actually reenter society. We’ve spent an ocean of money on this and we are not getting the safety return that we deserve,” said state Sen. Kelda Roys, a Democratic candidate.