MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has agreed to provide more assistance to hearing-impaired inmates as part of a settlement with federal investigators.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that its investigators had investigated complaints from inmates at Racine Correctional Institution, Taycheedah Correctional Facility and Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center in Milwaukee that Corrections officials were not repairing inmates’ hearing aids and that did. t providing access to services such as sign language interpreters, text telephones and hearing aid compatible telephones.
“People with disabilities in Wisconsin deserve equal access, and that doesn’t change if they’re in prison,” said Gregory J. Haanstad, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The settlement calls for corrections to provide hearing-impaired inmates with appropriate aids and services, including sign language interpreters, video phones and hearing aids when needed. The agency should make reasonable changes to its policies to accommodate hearing-impaired inmates, such as handcuffing them in front of their bodies so they can sign and allowing extra time for phone conversations with the help of an interpreter.
Corrections staff must also establish a process for identifying hearing-impaired inmates when they enter a facility, provide training on the Americans with Disabilities Act to staff and pay three injured inmates $15,000.
A Corrections spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email message seeking comment on the settlement late Monday afternoon.
The settlement marks another public relations black eye for an agency that has suffered multiple deaths in the prison system in recent months.
Five prisoners have died at Waupun Correctional Institution since June 2023, two by suicide, one by fentanyl overdose, one by stroke and one by malnutrition and dehydration. Prosecutors have charged the prison’s former director, Randall Hepp, and both other Waupun employees with misconduct in connection with the stroke and malnutrition deaths. Hepp has pleaded not guilty.
Federal investigators have also been investigating a suspected prison trafficking ring. A former prison employee pleaded guilty in mid-September to smuggling contraband, including cell phones, tobacco products and drugs, into the facility in exchange for money.
An inmate at Green Bay’s maximum security prison was charged in early September with kill his cellmate because he was black and gay, according to court documents.
Prosecutors in Lincoln County, northern Wisconsin, have charged a 16-year-old inmate at the state’s juvenile detention center with killing a counselor during a battle in June.