MADISON, Wis. — Following the death of four inmates at the Waupun Correctional Institution, a whistleblower has come forward to speak about the current conditions in the prison.
Lonnie Story is the attorney handling three lawsuits against the Department of Corrections and prison staff regarding the deaths of Tyshun Lemons, Dean Hoffman and Cameron Williams.
Story said before relying on the whistleblower’s testimony, he asked him a series of questions about conditions in the prison — questions he already had answers to.
“Everything he told me was in line with what I already heard from other inmates. Other inmates had actually been encouraging him to come forward,” said Story.
The whistleblower, who has asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns for himself and his family, has worked at the prison as a correctional officer for three years. The whistleblower will be referred to as “Jim” in this story; Jim is not his real name.
Jim said he was fired recently for an alleged untimely response to an incident at Cameron Williams’ cell.
“I was the range officer that found him in his cell and that is part of the reason they terminated me,” said Jim.
Jim said three days prior to Williams’ death, he informed his supervisors and nursing staff of Williams’ poor health conditions.
He said nothing was done.
“I saw him in shower stall two and he looked pale and sweaty. He looked sick, so I went and spoke to a doctor,” said Jim. “They told me to put in a blue slip and I said, ‘Are you sure? He doesn’t look good. I can bring him down and you can check on him really quick.’”
According to Jim, the medical staff told him to fill out a blue slip and did not show any interest in checking on Williams at that time.
“I believe I was off for three days and the day I came back I was the range officer that found him in his cell,” said Jim. “That is part of the reason they terminated me.”
According to the Dodge County medical examiner, Williams was found dead on Oct. 30.
Williams, 24, died from a stroke and had allegedly been dead in his cell for 12 hours before he was found.
“I pulled him out of the cell and did CPR on him for probably 32 [or] 35 minutes and then they pronounced him deceased,” said Jim.
Jim said all the deaths that occurred at the prison were, in part, caused by a lack of staff.
“The inmates are basically just running around by themselves. [There is] not enough staff to monitor them. [It is] very unsafe for staff, for the inmates and the public, because the towers aren’t even manned on the first shift,” said Jim.
According to the Department of Corrections’ staffing and vacancy dashboards, the Waupun prison was at 56.2% vacancy in Feb. 2024.
Most recent data showed that as of July 2024, that number has been reduced to 45.9% vacancy.
Jim said staffing wasn’t the only issue at the prison.
He said during his time working there, drugs and contraband were smuggled into the facility by inmates and staff.
Jim said he observed one situation that went on for over a year.
“The warden said, ‘We need more evidence,’ and let him do his thing for another year… God only knows how many cell phones, drugs, shanks that this guy is introducing to the institution,” said Jim.
Story said he recently contacted the governor’s office in an effort to settle his three cases.
He said the governor’s office responded by saying this is ongoing litigation.
“They want to do everything they can legally to find some way to get my cases dismissed,” said Story. “That is the way they want to respond to these families, and it is very disturbing that that’s the way the administration wants to approach this.”
If you are a current or former Department of Corrections employee who would like to speak about the current situation at the Waupun prison, you can contact Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin’s Cody Taylor via email at cody.taylor@charter.com.