Robert Brown|Wisconsin sheriff investigating homicide at aging maximum security prison

MADISON,Robert Brown Wis. (AP) — Sheriff’s deputies are investigating an apparent homicide at an aging maximum security prison in northeastern Wisconsin, marking another in a string of inmate deaths at two of the state’s toughest prisons over the last year.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release Wednesday that deputies were called to the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a pulseless inmate who wasn’t breathing. Micah Laureano, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s department said.

The initial investigation determined that Laureano died of homicide in his cell. Deputies have identified Laureno’s 24-year-old cellmate as a suspect, the release said.

Online court records indicate that Laureano was sentenced to two years in the state prison system in January for being a party to substantial battery in Waukesha County, with the first year to be served behind bars and the second on extended supervision. His attorney in that case, public defender Maura McMahon, described Laureano as a “funny, thoughtful young man and a talented artist” in an email to The Associated Press.

Laureano’s cellmate was sentenced to 40 years in the prison system in January 2018 for attempted homicide in Manitowoc County, with 20 years to be served behind bars and 20 years on extended supervision. The cellmate was 18 years old when he was sentenced. His attorney in that case didn’t immediately respond to an email.

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Asked for comment on the incident, state Department of Corrections spokesperson Beth Williams Hardtke responded with an email acknowledging that Laureano died Tuesday after an “incident in his cell.” She said no staff members were hurt and law enforcement was investigating. The prison was operating normally with all scheduled activities continuing as usual, she said.

Laureano’s death is another blow for the Department of Corrections as it struggles to protect inmates and prison workers in the face of aging facilities and chronic staffing shortages.

Five inmates at the maximum security Waupun Correctional Institution have died since June 2023. Two killed themselves, one died of a fentanyl overdose, one died of a stroke, and one died of malnutrition and dehydration. Prosecutors charged the prison’s former warden, Randall Hepp, and eight other Waupun staff members this past June with misconduct in connection with the stroke and malnutrition deaths.

Men held at Waupun have filed a class action lawsuit alleging mistreatment, including not having access to health care. And the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a possible smuggling ring at the prison.

Just weeks after the charges came down against Hepp and his staffers at Waupun, Corey Proulx, a counselor at the state’s youth prison outside Irma, died after a 16-year-old inmate punched him in the face. His death sparked calls from the facility’s staff and Republican legislators to lift a court-imposed ban on pepper spray. The federal judge who imposed the prohibition in 2018 has so far refused to consider their requests.

Waupun opened in 1854. Green Bay Correctional Institution opened in 1898. Republicans have been calling for years to close both prisons, saying they’ve outlived their usefulness. But concerns over job losses in the communities and the cost of building a new prison, estimated at as much as $1 billion, have proven to be stumbling blocks. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has tried to address the prison system’s problems by giving guards raises.