Green Bay CI – ABOLISHmke

Reportback: March on GBCI

Marching on the front entrance to Green Bay CI. Photo credit: PSL MKE

Around noon on Saturday, August 28, 2021, dozens of activists descended on the sprawling maximum-security Green Bay Correctional Institute (GBCI) in Allouez, WI. The direct action event was organized autonomously by a coalition including ABOLISHmke and members of the local Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Our goals were manifold: to expose the routine atrocities committed by staff with tacit support of local and state authorities; to confidently assure those still trapped inside that we love, care for, and honor them; and to highlight and signal boost the experiences of formerly incarcerated people and loved ones of current captives. We also came with a set of demands for Warden Dylon Radtke and executives like Governor Tony Evers which we attempted to deliver to the front office.

Ep 12- Reportback: March on GBCI

This is an audio version of “Reportback: March on GBCI” published at ABOLISHmke.com on September 2, 2021.

Music thanks to snag. snagmke.bandcamp.com

ABOLISHmke, news and analysis from a bad place. We write from an anti-authoritarian perspective on police, prisons, and more in the so-called state of Wisconsin.

We will publish anything sent to us that conforms to our editorial standards for authenticity, conflict, and rigor. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions: abolishmke [at] protonmail [dot] com.

On Solitary Confinement by Tommie Carter

An unoccupied cell in the segregation unit at Waupun Correctional Institution. The cells are small, with a narrow window and concrete and steel furnishings. Photo Credit

Dear amerika:

I would like the opportunity to expose the hazardous and unhealthful conditions of confinement in the prisons in the state of Wisconsin and all of its subdivisions; which has created a substantial risk of harm to all mentally ill prisoners, medically ill prisoners, and prisoners who are showing signs of illnesses.

Exculpatory evidence has shown that most prisoners in the state of Wisconsin and other state’s have a very difficult time handling these conditions of extreme social isolation and sensory deprivation. For seriously mentally ill prisoners the conditions can be devastating. Lacking physical and social points of reference to ground them in reality, they run a high risk of breaking down and attempting suicide.

Update—GBCI Guards Murder: No Charges, No Acknowledgement

New GBCI hires from a 2018 recruitment drive.

On May 13th 2021, Restrictive Housing Unit (RHU) staff and guards at Green Bay CI murdered someone. We have heard from a few people who are also being held at GBCI that his name was Antonio Whatley. Despite having called GBCI, sent email inquiries to its administrators and the sheriff’s department, and filed records requests (for the victim’s name and DOC number, as well as daily shift logs), we have yet to receive any information about this from the DOC.
The information we have received we are going to share here, but in the interest of protecting the people who are helping us stay informed, we will be publishing their words anonymously. They have several reasons to be concerned for their safety—both in general, and specifically when they are sharing information the guards don’t want to be shared. Retaliation that prisoners experience from guards is real, torturous, and potentially deadly.

How the DOC is turning GBCI into a Supermax

Cell extraction team in Green Bay CI’s Restrictive Housing Unit (RHU). Video still from Wisconsin Watch, 2017.

By Mattew McAfee

I’d like to discuss how GBCI is being turned into the new supermax of Wisconsin.

How is that you ask?

Well the new renovations of the cages they keep us locked in for this is not a house, room, place, cell, or any other odd terms they use to describe the living conditions they lock us up to die in. Though most of us will be getting out, people like me who have to live in here every day, till our last breath—it is a living hell.

Medical Neglect: Guards at GBCI Kill Prisoner

[update: confirmation from a staff person at GBCI and the Brown County Sheriff’s office that someone did die. The sheriff’s office is doing the routine investigation. Oftentimes, they just talk to staff, so we encouraged them to also talk to people held on the unit, about the medical neglect they witnessed.]

On Thursday May 13th, 2021, guards at Green Bay CI killed an incarcerated man, who’s name we’ve been told was Antonio. At this time, we don’t know much about this person, but have heard the story from friends held there. Our understanding is that he and others on his tier were calling out for him to receive medical attention, but the guards ignored their pleas for help. Antonio died in need of medication.

Sad Tony and the Proposed Budget that Can’t

"I'm not about to cry!" — Tony Evers, tryin’ hard during his little speech for the DNC.

Last week, Governor Tony Evers introduced his new state budget plan, and, as far as the prison system is concerned, it didn’t matter at all. There are some decent provisions included, like legalizing marijuana, expanding TAD funding and closing youth prisons without requiring the construction of new ones, but the proposal falls short of closing prisons and our other defund the DOC demands.

Continue reading “Sad Tony and the Proposed Budget that Can’t”