Governor Tony Evers Official Portrait
The Green Bay Correctional Institution closure could happen under Governor Evers’ 2025-27 state budget.
Evers announced the “sweeping reforms to Wisconsin’s corrections” and stabilizing the state’s “skyrocketing prison population” through his new statewide Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention.
The GBCI closure would happen by 2029 and would cost $6.3 million.
In anticipation of GBCI closure, the Department of Corrections would increase bed capacity and workforce opportunity in Brown County with the expansion of Sanger Powers in Hobart by 200 minimum-custody beds.
DOC facilities built in the 1800s, like the Waupun Correctional Center, would also get upgrades like converting the John Burke Correctional Center to a female institution, adding 300 women’s beds.
To try and help slow the prison population, Evers’ budget includes expanding community-based options for the Alternatives to Revocation Program, providing funding for the cost of services for the Division of Community Corrections and Reentry, and adding more staff with 13 new full-time positions.
It would be about $353 million in total investments.
Republicans still hold the majority in the Wisconsin Legislature, meaning they must approve the investments.
