In a move that is sure to have political repercussions, Dodge County District Attorney Andrea Will, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, has slashed felony misconduct charges against former Waupun Correctional Institution Warden Randall Hepp to a misdemeanor, letting him off with a $500 fine for his role in the death of inmate Donald Maier.
The plea deal, finalized Monday in Dodge County Circuit Court, is the latest chapter in Governor Evers’ Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ ongoing saga of mismanagement and dodged accountability.
Hepp, who conveniently announced his retirement just days before charges were filed in June 2024, was initially accused of felony misconduct in office, a charge that could have landed him three-and-a-half years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The allegations stemmed from the deaths of two inmates at Waupun, Wisconsin’s oldest maximum-security prison: Cameron Williams, who died of a stroke in October 2023, and Maier, who succumbed to dehydration and malnutrition in February 2024 after guards shut off his cell’s water supply. Court documents paint a grim picture: Williams, ignored after begging for hospital care, collapsed and crawled to his cell, his body undiscovered for at least 12 hours. Maier’s death, ruled a homicide by the Dodge County Medical Examiner, was a slow torture of starvation and thirst, with staff failing to provide meals or water.
Yet, according to a report by WLUK, Will justified the reduced charge by claiming Hepp was “well respected” within Evers’ Department of Corrections and unaware his guards were flouting policy Hepp pleaded no contest, and Judge Martin Devries, an appointee of former Republican Governor Scott Walker, ordered the $500 fine and court costs, requiring Hepp to pay within 48 hours and submit a DNA sample. Maier’s mother, Jeanette, called the sentence a “slap on the wrist,” lamenting that her son was “treated worse than a caged animal.”
The Waupun debacle is just one symptom of a rotting Department of Corrections under Evers. The prison itself, a crumbling 1854 relic with castle-like towers, has seen seven inmate deaths since 2023, including suicides, a fentanyl overdose, and two still under investigation. A federal probe into smuggling nabbed at least one former employee for sneaking in drugs and cellphones, while inmates have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions and nonexistent healthcare. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, who led the investigation, didn’t mince words, blasting Evers’ administration for “handing prisoner safety” to an agency that’s “failing at every level.”
Hepp’s plea deal isn’t an outlier. Eight staff members faced charges in the deaths, but one had charges dismissed, and another copped a misdemeanor plea with a $250 fine. The remaining six cases drag on, possibly headed for similar wrist-slaps. Meanwhile, Hepp admitted to investigators that policies, like the one governing water shut-offs, were emailed out but “nobody at any prison reads them,” and no U.S. jail bothers documenting inmates’ meals.
Evers, has dodged responsibility. Earlier this year he called for “broader criminal justice reform” while offering no concrete plan to house Waupun’s 1,700 inmates. His administration’s response? A proposed $245 million renovation to turn Waupun into a “vocational village.”
Republican lawmakers have renewed demands to address Waupun and Green Bay’s ancient prisons, with Sen. Van Wanggaard accusing Evers of keeping his “head in the sand” .
As Waupun festers, Evers’ Department of Corrections lurches from scandal to scandal, with staff shortages—43% vacancy rates at one recent count—and senior guards refusing to work solitary units, leaving inexperienced hires to manage chaos. Hepp’s $500 fine underscores the lack of accountability within Governor Evers’ Department of Corrections.
7:28 pm April 28, 2025
Previously on Dairyland Sentinel
