Wisconsin's prison population is approaching a record high. The women's prison system is in a documented overcrowding crisis: Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, the main women's maximum and medium security facility, held 986 women against a designed capacity of 752 in 2025. The Milwaukee Women's Center was at 255 percent of its capacity. The Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center was at 219 percent. The female prison population has grown nearly 29 percent in fifteen years, more than four times as fast as the male population.
The racial disparity in Wisconsin's incarceration is among the most severe documented in any state. In 2021, Black residents were incarcerated at a rate of 2,250 per 100,000. Native American residents at 2,245 per 100,000. White residents at 190 per 100,000. The ratio between Black and white incarceration rates in Wisconsin is nearly 12 to 1. These are not national numbers applied to Wisconsin; they are Wisconsin's own documented numbers about what is happening in Wisconsin's communities, Wisconsin's courtrooms, and Wisconsin's prisons.
Milwaukee is the source of a large portion of Wisconsin's incarcerated population. The prisons are not in Milwaukee. Waupun Correctional Institution is 90 miles north. Green Bay Correctional Institution is more than two hours north. For families in Milwaukee's concentrated poverty neighborhoods on the north side, a parent at Waupun or Green Bay is a full day of logistics: the drive, the visitor check-in, the return trip. For a parent working an hourly job with no paid leave, that is a day's wages gone, which is why the ICSolutions phone call from Waupun is what most Milwaukee families depend on for most of the year.
I went into the federal system, not the Wisconsin DOC. I went in when my kids were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20. What I know from 66 months is that the structural context of incarceration shapes what both parents face. The parent inside a Wisconsin facility, in a system with documented overcrowding and stark racial disparities, is navigating those realities every day. The children at home are navigating them too. The core obligation does not change.
Milwaukee to Waupun: the geography of Wisconsin incarceration
Wisconsin is a state with one large metro and a network of smaller cities. Milwaukee, in the southeast corner on Lake Michigan, is the largest city and the source of a concentrated share of the state's incarcerated population. The prisons are north and west, in smaller cities and rural counties.
Waupun Correctional Institution, opened in 1851, is in Dodge County in the dairy country of south-central Wisconsin, 90 miles northwest of Milwaukee. It is the state's oldest continuously operating prison. Green Bay Correctional Institution is in Brown County at the top of Lake Michigan, 115 miles north of Milwaukee. Dodge Correctional Institution, which serves as the men's intake and classification facility, is also in Waupun. Columbia Correctional Institution is in Portage. Oshkosh Correctional Institution is in Winnebago County.
For families in Milwaukee, the drive to Waupun is about 90 minutes each way. The drive to Green Bay is over two hours. These are not impossible distances, but they are real distances for families who may not have reliable vehicles and who may work jobs that do not easily permit a Saturday spent in transit.
The ICSolutions call from Waupun takes the same 10 minutes as a call from any other facility in this series. That call is the primary contact for Milwaukee families across most of the year.
The women's overcrowding crisis
Wisconsin's women's prisons are in a sustained overcrowding crisis. Taycheedah in Fond du Lac holds the largest share of incarcerated women. The Milwaukee Women's Center, which serves women in or near Milwaukee's community, was at 255 percent of its designed capacity. For women incarcerated in Wisconsin's system, the overcrowding is not an abstract policy concern; it is the environment they live in.
For children whose mother is incarcerated in this system, the overcrowding matters in a specific way: it affects programming access, facility conditions, and the daily experience of the parent whose contact the child depends on. Governor Evers proposed a $500 million prison reorganization in 2025, including converting an old women's minimum-security prison back to women's use, but the proposal was largely removed from the 2025-2027 state budget.
The ICSolutions phone call and video visit remain available regardless of facility conditions. Use them. The children of women incarcerated at Taycheedah or the Milwaukee Women's Center need the same consistent contact that all children in this series need.
ICSolutions and how communication works in Wisconsin
Phone calls and visitation scheduling in Wisconsin DOC facilities go through ICSolutions. Families register at icsolutions.com. Offsite video visits are available at all WIDOC facilities through the ICS software. In-person visits at facilities that use ICS scheduling also go through the system. Visitors must create an account or register their party ID to participate in visitation sessions.
All adults on the visitor list must submit the DOC-21AA questionnaire and receive approval. Adults must appear on the incarcerated person's approved list, present government photo ID, and follow dress and conduct rules.
Additional paid video visits may be available at some facilities at $2.50 per visit, up to 12 per month, depending on facility operations.
For questions about the Wisconsin DOC: (608) 240-5104; doc.wi.gov.
FCC rate caps effective April 6, 2026, limit calls to $0.11 per minute at prisons and large jails plus a facility fee.
The decision Wisconsin's disparities do not make for either parent
My wife never said a word against me to our six children during 66 months. She had every reason. She had six kids in a situation I had created. She chose to let them love me without penalty. What I have with my adult children today is the direct result of that choice.
The parent inside a Wisconsin facility carries the same obligation. Register the family at icsolutions.com. Call on a consistent schedule. Ask what happened at school. Remember what the child said last time. Ask about it by name this time. Show the child that you are paying attention from Waupun or Green Bay or Taycheedah.
Wisconsin's racial disparities and overcrowded facilities are structural realities that neither parent can fix. What both parents can shape is whether the child's experience of the sentence includes consistent contact with the incarcerated parent. That is still a choice, still individual, still possible within the structure.
What the ages mean in Wisconsin
My children were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20 when I went in.
The 9-year-old in Milwaukee or Madison or Green Bay whose parent is at a Wisconsin DOC facility needs the same thing every 9-year-old in this series needs: to hear directly and often that none of what happened is their fault. Children under 10 build private, silent explanations for a parent's absence. The explanation they most often reach is that they caused it. That belief settles in quietly. Register at ICSolutions. Call on a consistent schedule. Say it on every call: this is not your fault. I love you. I am still your parent.
The 11 and 12-year-old in Milwaukee is navigating middle school in a city with concentrated poverty on the north side and with incarceration rates for Black residents that are among the highest documented in the country. For a Black child in Milwaukee with a parent at Waupun, the sentence is not abstract. It is part of the context of their community. The incarcerated parent who calls consistently from ICSolutions, who shows up in the child's life through regular contact, is maintaining a presence that the community context is working against. Do the work.
The 15-year-old evaluates every contact for authenticity. Call to listen. Do not lecture from Waupun. The teenager who believes the incarcerated parent is genuinely paying attention will stay in the relationship.
The 18 and 20-year-old is an adult making choices. Show up as someone worth choosing.
What the outside parent carries in Wisconsin
The outside parent in Milwaukee or Madison is managing children, a household, and the logistics of incarceration in a state with documented overcrowding and documented racial disparities. They are navigating ICSolutions, the DOC-21AA visitor application, and potentially a 90-minute or two-hour drive to the facility.
What they need from the incarcerated parent is acknowledgment. One ICSolutions call where the person inside names specifically what they see the outside parent carrying and says thank you for it, in direct and genuine terms, is worth more than any instruction delivered from inside a Wisconsin facility. My wife carried six children through 66 months. She deserved to hear that I saw it. I said so as often as the access allowed.
For the outside parent: the children will carry what they hear you say about the incarcerated parent. Wisconsin's incarceration numbers and racial disparities are real. What is also real is that the choices both parents make about how to maintain the connection, how to speak about the other parent, and how to show up for the children during the sentence are what shape what the children carry into their adult lives. My wife never said anything against me. What I have now is what that made possible.
How communication works in Wisconsin
PHONE/VIDEO/VISITATION: ICSolutions. Register at icsolutions.com. All adult visitors must submit DOC-21AA questionnaire and be on approved list. Offsite video visits available at all WIDOC facilities. Additional paid video visits at some facilities: $2.50 per visit, up to 12 per month depending on facility. FCC cap $0.11/min + facility fee effective April 6, 2026.
WI DOC: doc.wi.gov; (608) 240-5104.
Key facilities: Waupun Correctional Institution (maximum; 90 miles from Milwaukee; opened 1851): Waupun WI. Green Bay Correctional Institution (maximum; 115 miles from Milwaukee): Green Bay WI. Taycheedah Correctional Institution (maximum/medium women; 986 population FY2025; 131% capacity): Fond du Lac WI. Dodge Correctional Institution (maximum; men's intake/classification): Waupun WI. Oshkosh Correctional Institution (medium): Oshkosh WI. Columbia Correctional Institution (maximum): Portage WI.
Federal inmates in Wisconsin, including those at FCI Oxford (Marquette County), fall under BOP jurisdiction. BOP communication uses TRULINCS for email via CORRLINKS and TRUFONE for phone. FCC rate caps apply; First Step Act programming offers 300 free minutes per month.
Where this leaves you
Wisconsin's prison population is heading toward a record high. The women's facilities are in documented overcrowding crisis. The racial disparities are among the most severe in the country. Governor Evers proposed restructuring the system and the legislature declined.
None of that is within the reach of either parent to fix. What is within reach is the ICSolutions account set up this week. The call on a consistent schedule. The visit scheduled through the ICS system. The DOC-21AA application submitted for the family members who will accompany the children. The conversation on every call that tells the 9-year-old this is not their fault.
Wisconsin's structure is what it is. The legislature did not fund the reorganization. The women's facilities remain overcrowded. The racial disparity has not closed. Those are facts that will not change based on the choices either parent makes during a sentence.
What will change is whether the 9-year-old in Milwaukee receives a call from the parent at Waupun on a consistent schedule. Whether the 12-year-old hears something specific about their specific life when the parent calls. Whether the outside parent speaks carefully about the incarcerated parent in front of the children who are listening. The Black child in Milwaukee with a parent at Waupun needs the same thing from both parents that every child in this series needs: consistent evidence that the incarcerated parent is paying attention, and that the outside parent is protecting the relationship. Make the ICSolutions call. Say what needs to be said. Show up for the child who is waiting.
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