Cruel and Unusual?

Our "Cruel and Unusual?" series examines Wisconsin’s prison system, including legislation affecting prisoners and their families.

Our reporting found prisoners experience despair, suicide attempts, mental harm and lack of services in solitary confinement that can stretch on for years.

Wisconsin Department of Corrections

An unoccupied cell in the segregation unit at Waupun Correctional Institution. The cells are small, with a narrow window and concrete and steel furnishings.

"I’ve tried many times to hang myself with a sheet, overdose on medication. I start to see things or people who isn’t there."

— Quenton Thompson, prisoner at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility

“I don’t know what has to happen for these guys to be believed.”

— Peg Swan, inmate advocate

Hard road ahead for Gov. Tony Evers’ promise to slash Wisconsin prison population

The Democrat’s goal to reduce incarceration by 50 percent faces numerous hurdles; his own 2019-21 budget proposal calls for increasing prison beds.

Wisconsin’s high supervision rate can cause — rather than prevent — longer incarceration, studies show

Supervision time in Wisconsin is third-longest in the U.S., meaning more chances for revocations and increased prison populations.

Wisconsin inmates report despair, little counseling in solitary confinement that can stretch on for years

Prisoners recount suicide attempts, mental harm and lack of services in solitary confinement; former Waupun psychologist describes harsh treatment of inmates.

Wisconsin prison officials quietly changed mental health status of inmates in solitary, psychologist says

When he returned from a medical leave in early 2016, psychologist Bradley Boivin discovered a troubling pattern among Waupun Correctional Institution inmates who had been held in solitary confinement. Thirteen of his patients’ mental health classifications had been changed without Boivin’s knowledge — and in his opinion, without proper assessment.