Updated story...
For months now a few state law makers have been asking for changes to be made at the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Today the Secretary of the Department of Corrections told us how he's working to make that happen.
“Some of them are working 16 hour shifts upon 16 hour shifts,” said Senator Dave Hansen earlier this month.
Senator Hansen has been an outspoken advocate for the officers at the Green Bay Correctional Institution.
"They’re overworked, they’re stressed and they’re dealing with serious criminals," adds Hansen voicing just some of the major concerns he has for staffers at the facility.
His and many other people’s concerns have focused on the prison being understaffed. But Secretary Jon Litscher from the Department of Corrections says that’s an issue that prison workers across the state collectively deal with.
"And these are issues that we are facing and that we have to continue to face and deal with," says Secretary Litscher.
Many are also concerned about the fact that Green Bay’s Correctional Institute houses 1100 inmates in a facility designed to contain just 750.
"That's been the reality in those institutions for some time. But still we have to have a secure and safe environment and we think we can do that with the inmate base that is at every institution," adds Secretary Litscher.
The Secretary says employees safety is still number one, but adds that the state shouldn't have to hire a third party inspector to look into potential issues like some, including Senator Hansen have suggested.
"We do our own internal reviews and we think that our internal reviews after an incident are very good," elaborates Senator Litscher.
A positive note for folks who work at the institution though is that within three weeks the prison should be just five employees short of fully staffed. Just seven months ago they had 40 officers less which some believed increased safety issues.
But when asked about mandatory 16 hour shifts on occasion for one of the most dangerous jobs in town, the secretary stated that in that line of work it can be just part of the job.
"And these are issues that we are facing and that we have to continue to face and deal with," adds Secretary Litscher.
And as the secretary wraps up his visit to Allouez, time will tell if the guards that work here notice the changes down the road.
Perhaps the most pressing issue from guards we've heard from over the last several months is that they didn't feel they were being listened to by management involving safety issues at the prison. Well Secretary Litscher told us today it's his top priority to open up those lines of communication once again.
Original story...
Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher vows to protect correction officers while on the job in Wisconsin's prison system. "We want to give officers support," Litscher tells NBC26's Eric Crest. "We know about the difficulties of the jobs they have."
Litscher's visit to Green Bay comes days after a corrections officer was seriously injured when an inmate threw scalding water into his face. That officer was taken to the Wisconsin Burn Center in Milwaukee with second and third degree burns.
Related: Corrections Officer severely burned in inmate attack.
A stabbing incident also injured three officers on June 29.
Related: Stabbing incident at Green Bay Correctional Institution:
