There are lots of suicides and suicide attempts after 7 months of lockdown here at Waupun prison

Hi, my name is Justin Welch and I’m a prisoner at Waupun prison in Wisconsin. What I’m about to tell you is not fiction but fact and you can verify what I say with just looking at all the other media coverage of Waupun Correctional institution.

Waupun prison has been on a “modified movement” for over 7 months — what many would call it a lockdown. I call it a lockdown along with every other person in here.

Not much has changed since the beginning of our lockdown in March 2023. Inmates are still locked in their cells 24 hours a day and only able to go to one recreation a week for one hour — if they are lucky. The institution has no visitation and this has been ongoing from the start. So to put this in simple terms, the majority of the inmates in this prison has been eating, sleeping and using the bathroom in there cell for 7 months. So when I say 24 hours a day in the cell, I mean just that.

The main reason for this story update is because of the uptick in suicides and suicide attempts. The reason for the uptick is because the men in here are only human and can only take so much. Of late, I have been thinking of suicide myself and fully understand why people in here are killing themselves. So in the last 7 months we have had three suicides and hundreds of suicide attempts. This is factual information and it can be checked by any media story you read. The only difference is I’m not the N.Y. Times or the  Milwaukee Sentinel who has been reporting on this story for the entire time, 7 months now. I couldn’t count the number of times I have seen a news story on Fox 6 or ABC and many other channels. And I want to thank all the media who has been covering this historic lockdown for what it is doing to all the men in here. Thank you so much!

The reason Waupun Correctional Institutions is getting so much media coverage is because the conditions of confinement here are so bad it’s become a humanity crisis situation on a level no prison in this country has ever seen.

Many prisoners are “cutters” and they end up cutting themselves up really bad. I don’t really know how to put it in words but if you could see the arms or legs on the inmates in here you would fully understand after seeing all the scars from self-mutilation with razors or anything they can find to cut themselves up. Some prisoners cut themselves up and cover the whole cell with blood and end up passing out due to lack of blood and need a blood transfusion to save their life. The reason why I know this is because I was one of them prisoners who needed blood transfusions on many occasions. I was very suicidal when I was in Waupun Correctional Institution my last time. And now I’m back and I feel it coming on again. I have not attempted suicide in many years but due to the conditions of confinement at Waupun prison, I have been slowly feeling myself fall apart and wanting to kill myself. This is largely because of the conditions here.

I’m working on it so this doesn’t happen anymore. I feel it’s important because I’m the only prisoner in Waupun who is able to write about this from our perspective — in hopes maybe somebody will see this and do the the right thing because it’s clear the DOC isn’t going to. I will not kill myself today because my story is more important to get out and it just might save somebody’s life in here with the help of you readers.

Some people wouldn’t care if I killed myself or if any of the people in here killed themselves, but I do. And as I get older, I see life in a different light. I care about people and don’t want anybody to suffer like we are suffereing in here right now. I can’t help the men who have taken their life already and I feel so bad for them and their families. I seen some of the families on TV who have loved ones who killed themselves and I see such pain and sadness. They are suffering for Waupun Correctional Institution’s wrongdoing.

Now, I understand that this prison is understaffed on paper, but the one thing nobody is being told is that a number of Wisconsin DOC Correctional Officers from other institutions are filling in for the open spots at Waupun. So in reality, Waupun prison does have staff. And inmates are not killing themselves because the prison is understaffed, anyway. They are killing themselves and doing self-mutilation to a point life-saving treatments are required because of this so-called “modified movement.” They just can’t take it no more. Don’t take my word for it. Here are a few guys you can contact in here and ask them why they attempted suicide.

Timothy Johnson, Clayton Courtney, Donte Harris and so many others. Its just so sad to see this and know what they are thinking because I have been through it all myself. I talk to guys and do my best to try and help them understand this will end one day and the institution will go back to normal and start running mental health treatment programing again along with school, visits and things people need to keep themselves motivated and set goals to have some meaning in life.

As of now no inmates in Waupun have any meaning to life. I keep myself safe mentally due to my writing on Prison Writers. If not for Prison Writers, I don’t think I would be here right now.

Now I want to tell you about the Warden here at Waupun Correctional Institution. I don’t know the man personally because I have only gotten one email reply from him ever! So I can only go off my feelings when talking about the man who started this lockdown that seems will never end.

What I can say is the warden was respectful to me in his email and seems to want change at Waupun but I don’t think this lock down is under his control and it has become a show from Madison. the state capital and the headquarters of the DOC, to show the world they will do what they want no matter how many inmates kill themselves or attempt to kill themselves. Madison has made this very clear with its action of taking no action and letting people kill themselves and attempting to kill themselves on a level never seen before. I’m sorry if you have loved ones in here suffering and I know the families are suffering alongside them in here also.

If it was just simply a staff shortage problem it could be fixed with bringing in the National Guard to help out so they could attend to all the suicidal problems we’re having and have been having for the last 7 months. The situation at Waupun has gotten so bad an attorney by the name Lonnie Story filed a class action lawsuit against Waupun Correctional Institution because of the hellish conditions of confinement. If you don’t know, attorneys don’t take on cases for free if they think it will not win, so ask attorney Lonnie Story if he thinks this case will win. He did take the case for free so that should answer you question.

I don’t want to get off topic because the most important thing is bringing attention to all the mental health problems happening unnecessarily in this place. Please understand that the men in here who’ve become mentally unstable are going home one day and it’s then the public’s problem. The public pays good tax money to have Waupun take care of its prisoners and would hope the men leaving prison aren’t more mentally unstable than they did coming into prison. What’s the point of prison if it’s making people more mentally unstable and sending them out to the public? Because this is what is happening at Waupun.

The truth is we will have more men taking their lives in here if change does not come soon. I don’t want to see or hear of any more deaths in Waupun. I don’t like some men in here and don’t like why they are in prison, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to see nobody take their life. Each time I hear about a suicide attempt or suicide, something inside me feels lost or meaningless and I feel like all hope is gone and have lost faith and meaning in life.

So after reading this, if you’re not a person who is full of hate for men in here or hate for me, please reach out with a phone call to the Governor of Wisconsin. His name is Tony Evers. He has been on TV a number of times of late over the conditions of confinement at Waupun. So he is fully aware of the situation here. Governor Evers has full control over getting the National Guard to come into Waupun to help out the Correctional Officers at the prison, so no more deaths take place.

What’s a phone call for a man’s life?

I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart to all I have hurt and I understand some will not forgive me but this is not only hurting me but it’s killing people you don’t even know. So if you feel like writing disrespectful comments to me — and it makes you feel better — then by all means, do so. But some men in here shouldn’t even be in prison (unlike myself) so think of them, not me. My life is only to help others now. I’m sorry I was not this person when it counted most. And one person reading this knows what I’m talking about, I’m so sorry and I will not ask forgiveness from you because I can’t forgive myself. But please forgive the men who are really suffering in here. Be better than me, I know you are.

I will end here in hopes one person can make that one phone call that makes the Governor of Wisconsin act and not sit by and let men keep killing themselves. Your phone call counts more then you think. Thank you to all my readers. God bless you all.

Truly, Justin Welch

Justin Welch
#00579750
Waupun Correctional Institution
200 S. Madison St.
Waupun, WI 53963