WAUPUN, Wis. (WTAQ) - Prison life will soon get easier for some of Wisconsin’s most dangerous criminals.
The state Corrections Department has agreed to settle a pair of lawsuits filed by two inmates at Waupun. New windows will be installed in the prison’s segregation unit, along with exercise equipment and magazines.
The Associated Press obtained the settlement documents. Officials say they’ll spend about $60,000 on the new items – and the 2 inmates and their lawyers will be paid $113,000 in damages and fees.
About 180 prisoners are housed in Waupun’s segregation unit. It’s where inmates go when they break prison rules, or are considered threats to the prison population.
Inmates Shaun Matz and Matthew Schumacher filed the lawsuits. They said the isolation unit was so harsh, it made their mental illnesses worse and violated the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
The settlement avoids the type of class action lawsuits that have been filed against other prisons in the recent past.
