(NewsNation) — The former warden and eight employees of a long-troubled Wisconsin prison were charged with the deaths of several inmates, one of whom wasn’t found until 12 hours after his death.
The Waupun Correctional Institution, which is about 60 miles northeast of Madison, has been riddled with accusations of misconduct and abuse for years.
Its head, Randall Hepp, was charged with misconduct in public office Wednesday.
Eight other prison staff, which included correctional officers and registered nurses, were also charged with abuse of an inmate. Two correctional officers and a sergeant were also charged with misconduct.
“We are operating the oldest prison in the state of Wisconsin in a dangerous and reckless manner,” Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, who led the investigation, said at a news conference.
Calls to investigate the prison’s conditions intensified after four inmates died at the facility last year.
Inmate Dean Hoffman killed himself in solitary confinement last June. Hoffman’s daughter filed a federal lawsuit in February alleging that prison officials failed to provide her father with adequate mental health care and medications.
In October, Tyshun Lemons and Cameron Williams were both found dead at the facility, and Dodge County Medical Examiner said Lemons overdosed on acetyl fentanyl, a potent opioid painkiller, and Williams died of a stroke.
Williams told an inmate advocate three days before he died that he needed to go to the hospital, but no action was taken, according to a criminal complaint.
He died of a stroke sometime on Oct. 29, but his body wasn’t discovered until late the next morning, at least 12 hours after he died, according to the complaint.
Donald Maier was found dead at the prison in February. Schmidt said his death was ruled a homicide due to malnutrition and dehydration.
Schmidt said Maier had not eaten in days and was “drinking sewage water” and “played in the toilet,” reported the New York Times.
All of the charges are related to the deaths of Williams and Maier.
Waupun was the first prison to open in Wisconsin and suffered from understaffing that resulted in a lockdown in March 2023. Nearly half of the jobs at Waupun, 43%, were vacant at the end of May, according to agency data.
State lawmakers and prison officials knew for years that they were headed toward a staffing crisis but took little action to address the shortages, according to an investigation by the New York Times.
“Each and every person who’s failed to do their job to the high level that we expect or treat people in our care with the dignity, humanity, and respect they deserve should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law — it’s that simple,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
Evers’ office said in March that federal investigators were also looking into a suspected smuggling ring involving prison employees.
During an interview with investigators, Hepp blamed Maier’s death at least in part on the staffing shortage, according to a criminal complaint.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.