MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The mother of an inmate who died of dehydration and malnutrition at Wisconsin’s oldest maximum security prison last year has filed a federal lawsuit, marking the fourth action brought by relatives of inmates who have died at the troubled institution since 2023.
Donald Maier’s mother, Jeanette Maier, filed her lawsuit Monday in federal court in Milwaukee alleging her son was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment at Waupun Correctional Institution. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and names state Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy, former Waupun Warden Randall Hepp and multiple Waupun staffers as defendants.
Corrections spokesperson Kevin Hoffman declined to comment, saying the agency typically doesn’t speak publicly about pending litigation. Hepp’s attorney, Michael Steinle, didn’t return an email Thursday.
Donald Maier, 62, was found dead in his cell in February 2024 at Waupun. The Dodge County medical examiner determined he died of dehydration and failure to thrive due to malnutrition. Investigators found that guards had repeatedly shut off the water to his cell during the week leading up to Maier’s death after he flooded his cell, according to court documents.
Jeanette Maier’s lawsuit alleges that Waupun staff failed to document the water shut-offs in violation of prison protocol, didn’t tell him when the water was back on and didn’t offer to get him any water themselves. He also didn’t receive medication at Waupun, even though the state Corrections Department had designated him as suffering from a serious mental illness, according to the lawsuit.
The filing also alleges that staff shortages at Waupun have left workers exhausted and extra shifts have left them resentful of inmates who need help.
Waupun opened in 1854, making it Wisconsin’s oldest maximum security prison. It’s been plagued by a litany of problems in recent years.
Inmates filed a federal class-action lawsuit in October 2023 alleging inhumane conditions at the prison, but dropped it in August 2024 after a judge found eight of 10 plaintiff inmates hadn’t exhausted an internal complaint process.
Seven inmates, including Maier, have died at the prison since 2023. Family members of three of them — Cameron Williams, Dean Hoffman and Tyshun Lemons — filed federal lawsuits last year. Those case are still pending.
Williams was found dead of a stroke in his cell in October 2023. His mother alleges no one helped him, even though he’d been throwing up blood and begging to go to the emergency room for head pain in the days before he died.
Hoffmann killed himself at the prison in June 2023. His daughter contends he went weeks without seeing any mental health care providers due to a lockdown and received medication only sporadically.
Lemons died of a fentanyl overdose at the prison in October 2023. His sister maintains that Corrections failed to prevent illegal drugs from entering the prison.
Federal investigators have been probing alleged smuggling at Waupun. The investigation has netted at least one former employee who pleaded guilty to smuggling cellphones and drugs in exchange for money.
Hepp, the former warden, was charged in June with felony misconduct in connection with Maier’s death after investigators concluded that he failed to ensure his staff followed policy. He pleaded no contest Monday to a misdemeanor count of violating laws governing state or county institutions in a deal with prosecutors and walked away with a $500 fine.
Eight Waupun staffers were charged in June with abuse or misconduct in connection with either Maier or Williams’ death. Charges have been dismissed against one of them and another was fined $250. The remaining cases are pending.
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