Attempted Escape At Racine Prison

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Racine Correctional Institute
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

There was an unsuccessful prison escape over the weekend at Racine Correctional Institute in Sturtevant. According to a source familiar with the investigation, an inmate had made it over one of many fences outside of the prison. The inmate however encountered a fence that was electrically charged and reportedly was rendered unconscious. Alarms meant to alert correctional staff to such behavior went to ignored for 45 minutes until the inmate was discovered outside the walls of the prison.

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Racine Correctional Institute
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)

Wisconsin Department of Corrections spokesman, John Beard, confirmed the unsuccessful escape to Kenosha County Eye, but not would not elaborate further because criminal charges are being considered.

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The law enforcement agency that is conducting the investigation is the Racine County Sheriff’s Office. A public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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This is the same prison where a high-ranking public official is alleged to have committed 22 felonies for her role in misconduct and sexual contact with an inmate.

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Much of the staff at the prison that has contact with KCE has expressed non-confidence in the prison’s warden, Jason Wells.

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This is a breaking story and new information will be shared as it is received.

Warden Jason Wells

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  1. I realize that technology is going to replace most live workers at fast food joints, but we are paying real money for prison guards. Maybe we’d need less guards if we simply increased the voltage at the fences?

  2. Racine County Supervisor Ron Molnar is former head of security at RCI—Something to be considered investigation wise.

    Another issue is how and when the inmate was missing from his housing unit.

    If I lived in one of the houses adjacent to RCI I would be demanding answers from the Sturtevant PD and Town Board.

  3. Why would any inmate want to leave “Club Sturtevant?”

    Background: In DOC medium security means, for inmates, nicer digs and fewer rules and restrictions. Some inmates have trouble with minimum security (such as Kenosha Correctional Center) because there are more rules to follow.

    1. I had to visit there for a class. It’s a very nice country club. Dorms are better than what some college students pay for.

      1. Same here! I was impressed by how much freedom they actually had in their dorms. They have more freedom than what my parents gave me in high school!

  4. Jason Wells and his side kick Julia McLaughlin the security director are the worst. When Jason was the security director he transferred from RYOCF because ongoing investigations there. Nobody knew who he was, and was attempting to shift things to run like RYOCF. He then brought his side kick Julia who was a security supervisor at RYOCF, and became a unit manager. When she was unit manager she would go out of her way to get staff in trouble, and if something didn’t go planned would go straight to Wells office. They’re still on probation I believe for their positions. If the top 3 and other officers, and supervisors got fired from Columbia Correctional Institution, they should as well.

  5. What the article didn’t mention is that the fog was thick and staff were alerted but could not see when they checked it out.

    1. In that case RCI records will show a ‘fog alert’ was in place with officer escort required for inmate movement.
      If they had a report of an offender missing was a lock down called?

    1. Quite likely Tony Evers is clueless regarding how things are run.
      Like Joe Biden Tony only gets told nice things before being tucked into bed each afternoon.

    2. Lol. Post Walker’s ACT 10 staffing levels and moral are horrendous. But keep believing “it’s working Wisconsin”. And there was also an escape attempt from RCI during Scooter’s term.

  6. Honestly an investigation need to be done on how the warden & security Director is running RCI INTO THE GROUND. a black cloud is over the whole institution

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