WFDL news has learned the wardens at two Waupun prisons are stepping down. A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections told WFDL news Waupun Correctional Institution warden Randall Hepp and Dodge Correctional Institution warden Jason Benzel have announced their retirements and their replacements were announced earlier this week to DOC staff. At Waupun Correctional Institution, current Deputy Warden Bradley Mlodzik is being promoted to warden. At Dodge Correctional Institution, Dan Cromwell, who is currently the warden at New Lisbon Correctional Institution, will be taking over for warden Benzel. According to the DOC spokesperson the changes are all effective June 30. The moves come following the deaths of four inmates at the Waupun Correctional Institution in the past year. A group of Waupun inmates filed a federal class-action lawsuit in October saying lockdown conditions there amount to cruel and unusual punishment. In February, the daughter of an inmate who died at the Waupun prison filed a federal lawsuit alleging Waupun officials failed to provide her father with adequate mental health care and medications. Last week Governor Tony Evers announced that he was promoting a deputy secretary at the embattled Wisconsin Department of Corrections to be the new leader of the state’s prison system. Jared Hoy will replace Kevin Carr, who retired in March after leading the department since 2019. Hoy inherits a prison system that has been plagued by overcrowding, understaffing, lawsuits, and calls to close a 126 year old maximum security prison.
