In veto, Gov. Evers removed deadline to close Green Bay prison

GREEN BAY, Wis (CIVIC MEDIA) – Governor Tony Evers issued nearly two dozen partial vetoes when he signed the state budget into law early in the morning Thursday, less than an hour after lawmakers passed it.

Perhaps the most significant veto, according to the Governor himself, was the removal of a 2029 deadline to close Green Bay Correctional Institution.

“Saying that we’re going to Green Bay by ’29 doesn’t mean a damn thing. We have to start working on this,” he told reporters.

Evers has proposed closing the 1898 prison as part of a broader overhaul of the state’s corrections system. He proposed that plan back in February, and said it would cost half a billion dollars. 

Evers says the Legislature didn’t engage with that plan, or propose their own, and objected to to setting a firm deadline without one in place.

So, he struck the 2029 deadline, a decision that’s been criticized from across the political aisle.  

Jim Rafter, the Village President of Allouez, where the prison is based, called the veto a sign of broken government. He says the time for studies has “come and gone,” and that the village deserves a timeline.

Republican Representatives David Steffen of Howard and Ben Franklin of De Pere also criticized the move. They say Green Bay is structurally unsafe, older than Alcatraz, and that a firm deadline would’ve forced the state to act.

Still, the budget keeps $15 million to begin planning for a prison “realignment” and potential closure.