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By Tom King
May 8, 2021 6:54 AM
MILWAUKEE, WI (WSAU) A couple of groups have filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections over a policy that did not allow any visits to prisoners since March of 2020 because of the pandemic.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the conservative Wisconsin Institute For Law & Liberty filed the suit this week in Jefferson County.
The DOC is still not allowing clergy members to visit even if they have been vaccinated and the groups say that the prisoners constitutional rights are being violated as some religious services cannot be given virtually.
A spokesman for the DOC said “they are committed to expanding in-person visitation at the earliest possible time and as soon as health experts deem it safe to do so.”
Erin Jordan
Special to the Globe Gazette
The Iowa Department of Corrections is seeking a vendor to review all parts of its prison system, from staffing and inmate classification to the safety of buildings where more than 8,000 criminal offenders are housed.
The request for proposals, which closed Wednesday, says the vendor that is chosen will provide a final report by Dec. 1. But the Corrections Department wonât confirm whether the findings will be available to the public.
âIâm unable to answer that question this time,â Corrections Department Spokesman Cord Overton said in an email.
The institutional review follows the March 23 attack in which two offenders at the Anamosa State Penitentiary are accused of bludgeoning to death correctional Officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte in an escape attempt.
Archdiocese of Milwaukee files lawsuit over COVID-19 policy barring clergy from prison visits
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A conservative legal group filed a lawsuit Friday against the state over a policy not allowing clergy members to visit prison inmates due to COVID-19 concerns.
The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, takes aim at a Department of Correction s policy that barred visitors from prisons in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept the state.
The department is still not allowing clergy members, whether vaccinated or not, even in instances where religious services cannot be conducted virtually, the complaint said, such as administering the sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance and the Anointing of the Sick.
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The killings of two staffers at the Anamosa State Penitentiary, allegedly by two inmates who used prison-issued tools as weapons, has shaken the department. Iowa prisons rely heavily on inmate labor to maintain operational, but a slate of changes are expected in the coming weeks and months.
The Iowa Department of Corrections has hired a new security operations director, in the wake of the killings of two prison staffers, allegedly by two inmates. Multiple investigations are underway into the incident at the Anamosa State Penitentiary on March 23 and state officials have said a slate of policy and operational changes may follow.