Another inmate has been found dead at a troubled Wisconsin prison.
Donald Meyer, 62, died Feb. 22 at Waupun Correctional Facility, state Department of Corrections spokesman Kevin Hoffman said. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and county coroner are investigating, but no further information is available, Hoffman said.
Meyer was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2012 for multiple counts of stalking. He was charged in September 2022 with first-degree murder in Wood County in connection with the 1985 stabbing of Benny Scruggs. The case was pending at the time of Meyer’s death. Meyer’s attorneys, listed in online court records as Andrew Hernandez and Annie Gessinger, did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Tuesday.
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Meyer is the fourth Waupun inmate to die at the facility since June 2023. That same month, Dean Hoffman committed suicide in his cell. Tyshun Lemons died at the facility on Oct. 2, and Cameron Williams died at the facility on Oct. 30. Their deaths are still under investigation.
Another inmate has been reported dead at Waupun Correctional Facility in Wisconsin, the fourth such death since June.
Last year, the Department of Corrections imposed lockdowns in Waupun, as well as prisons in Green Bay and Stanley, citing a lack of guards.
A group of Waupun inmates filed a federal lawsuit in October, alleging the facility’s lockdown conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. And last month, Hoffman’s daughter filed a federal lawsuit accusing Waupun authorities of failing to provide her father with adequate mental health care and medication. Those lawsuits are pending.
The two-year state budget that Gov. Tony Evers signed last summer gave prison guards a 6 percent pay raise and increased starting salaries in hopes of increasing interest in the profession. The move appears to have worked, with 214 guards graduating from training last month, the largest such class since 1981.
Stanley resumed normal operations in late November. Travel restrictions have been eased in Waupun and Green Bay, but some remain in place.
Evers is searching for a replacement for Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr, who announced his resignation last week.
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Mr. Carr did not discuss the reason for his resignation, but an official statement from the Department of Corrections said that Mr. Carr took office “due to several challenges that are unfamiliar to correctional systems across the country, including significant staff vacancies and other resource deficiencies.” It is stated that he was facing. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these problems, the statement said.
