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• Wisconsin is expected to receive about $780 million by 2038 through national litigation surrounding drug companies’ role in the opioid crisis, with 70% flowing to the state and 30% split between 71 counties and 16 municipalities. 
  
• The state has reported spending $36 million so far. Local governments have spent about $20 million. 
  
• Nearly 30 local governments have yet to report any spending, with some citing a need for more guidance. 
  
• Transparency varies among local governments. Seven filed required spending reports only after a reporter asked why theirs was missing. Wisconsin Watch and WPR found errors on reporting filed by more than a dozen local governments.  

Wisconsin and its local governments are expected to receive more than $780 million by 2038 as part of a national legal settlement over the role of drug makers, distributors and pharmacies in the opioid crisis — potentially transformational funding in efforts to reduce drug deaths.

But it’s not easy to track where some of that money is going. 

While Wisconsin does a better job than many states in making that information accessible, advocates say it has room to improve, particularly when it comes to transparency around local spending. Not every local government has filed required reports on time, and Wisconsin Watch and WPR found reporting errors on documents submitted by more than a dozen local governments.

The state gets 30% of the settlement funding and documents its spending on a web page.

The rest flows to 71 Wisconsin counties (all but Polk, where the county board declined to join Wisconsin’s lawsuit) and 16 municipalities, according to Wisconsin’s settlement agreement finalized in 2022.

It’s considered compensation for a public health crisis that killed at least 14,747 Wisconsinites between 2000 and 2023.

Local governments have spent $20 million during the first three years of disbursements, investing in strategies ranging from residential treatment and jail recovery programs to technology for police and T-shirts for school-based drug prevention programs.

The millions spent so far make up less than 15% of what local governments have received. With more than $115 million sitting in county and municipal accounts as of last December and about $400 million more on the way, local spending will likely ramp up in the coming years.

But transparency varies across local governments. 

A 2021 state law requires that local governments spend opioid settlement dollars within a list of approved uses related to the opioid crisis. But the law does not require local officials to tell the state how they spend it. Instead, counties and municipalities are required to report only how many settlement dollars they have received and spent, alongside their year-end balances.

Debates have unfolded nationwide about how to use settlement funds — including about the merits of spending on policing or programs that promote supervised drug use to reduce harm.

In making those decisions, local governments should be transparent and involve people directly impacted by the opioid epidemic, experts say.

Rick Schaefer lost his job and house after developing an opioid addiction. He accepts he’ll never be made whole.

“But we should be more involved in how the (settlement) money is spent,” Schaefer said, adding that most people he talks to know little about the settlement funding. While he wishes people would pay more attention, he wants governments to better engage the public.

“I want to see more people with lived experience doing the work,” he said.

Some localities have followed that practice by including people with lived experience on advisory committees. Others post detailed spending information online, conduct regional surveys and hold community listening events.

The majority of Wisconsin’s local governments elaborate on their plans in supplementary annual surveys by the Wisconsin Counties Association.

Milwaukee County is seen nationally as a model for transparency and public involvement. It submitted nearly 30 pages of details to the state this year alongside its required figures.

But a dozen counties and municipalities have skipped or minimally answered the optional questions. Multiple municipalities failed to report opioid settlement spending totals one to two years after state deadlines. And seven governments submitted reports only after a reporter asked why theirs was missing. 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice reviews the reports annually and has flagged and reported issues when they are identified, but the department “does not have any enforcement role with respect to the submission of these reports,” spokesperson Samantha Standley said in an email.  

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee also receives the reports annually. Co-chairs Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, did not respond to requests for comment.

Lessons from tobacco settlement 

Drug overdose rates dropped in 2024 across Wisconsin and the country, the first annual decline since 2019. 

The decrease represents major progress, said Giavana Margo, Wisconsin program manager for Vital Strategies, a national nonprofit working to reduce overdose deaths.

Still, plenty of work remains, and progress is uneven.

Black and Indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate harm from the opioid epidemic. In Milwaukee, for instance, older Black men are accounting for a growing share of drug deaths as fentanyl creeps into cocaine supplies. 

Wisconsin still saw more than 1,000 drug-related deaths from February 2024 to February 2025, preliminary U.S. Centers for Disease Control data show.

Settlement dollars have the potential to save lives if spent strategically, Margo said.

That did not happen the last time states reaped billions in compensation for a public health crisis. 

States, including Wisconsin, settled with tobacco companies in 1998 for an estimated $246 billion over the first 25 years. 

While states promised to use the funding to fight tobacco use, the bulk went toward plugging budget holes. Most states still spend less on tobacco prevention than the CDC recommends.

For its part, Wisconsin receives hundreds of millions each year from settlements and taxes on tobacco but spends less than 12% of what the CDC recommends on prevention. 

Advocates want to avoid a repeat as opioid settlement funds flow in, said Kristen Pendergrass, vice president of state policy at Shatterproof, a national nonprofit focused on the addiction crisis. It’s why experts call for transparency.

Wisconsin is off to a better start this time.

The Department of Health Services opioid settlement web page details $36 million in department spending so far — much of it funding treatment center construction and renovation. 

Wisconsin is among 20 states with some level of public reporting requirements for 100% of settlement funds at the state and local levels, according to OpioidSettlementTracker.com.

Many states lack any reporting requirements for locally disbursed funds, leaving interested residents to sift through county board minutes and a scattering of local government websites. 

Wisconsin’s annual reporting requirement creates a central location for spending information, Margo said, even if it’s not as robust or accessible as it could be. 

States such as Minnesota and Indiana break down local spending on dashboards and spreadsheets linked on health and substance abuse-related websites. Wisconsin’s reports aren’t as easily findable. They are published as PDFs on the Joint Finance Committee website, alongside hundreds of other spending reports unrelated to opioids. The reports are also available by request through the state DOJ. The Wisconsin Counties Association separately published the 2023 and 2024 spending reports to a resource page created for county officials.

The city of Milwaukee receives more settlement funding than any local government except for Dane and Milwaukee counties. But it failed to initially report two years of spending and receipts after “an oversight resulted in delays,” wrote Comptroller Bill Christianson. After being contacted by a reporter the city submitted reports detailing more than $500,000 in spending, and it created procedures to meet future reporting deadlines.

Some local government officials said they didn’t know they were required to submit reports if they had yet to spend any settlement money. Several corrected missing expenditure figures, misreported receipts and mismatched account balances between years after a reporter flagged discrepancies. 

Calls for public input

The overdose reversal drug Narcan saved Schaefer’s life multiple times before he started his recovery journey and became a certified peer support specialist. Growing availability of Narcan and other harm reduction resources is likely fueling the decline in overdose deaths — at least in part, Schaefer said.

Many Wisconsin local governments have reported purchasing drugs like Narcan and training for its use. 

“Things are going in the right direction,” Schaefer said. “So let’s decide where to throw more money. What else can we try?”

He and other members of DUO Wisconsin, an organization for current and former drug users, hope governments will listen to people with lived experience. Their proximity to the crisis forges unique perspectives.

Many local governments have launched advisory councils and seek public input, including from people affected by the opioid crisis. Twenty-one local governments in annual reports to the state mentioned soliciting some form of community input. 

But even in those cases, people don’t always know how to get involved or whether they will be listened to, said Jess Morrow, a DUO member.

“How do you even begin to look or find out?” she asked. 

Morrow and Schaefer live in Dane County, which holds public meetings on opioid settlement spending and includes people with living experience on its advisory committee.

“When you look at the successes of other counties and other states, it’s meeting people where they’re at,” said Dane County Supervisor Rick Rose, who helped create that committee.

He aims to streamline the county’s allocation process so more dollars can more quickly flow where needed.

“This disease is changing every day,” Rose said.

Several local governments reported spending money on test strips for the potent drug fentanyl and xylazine, a veterinary sedative increasingly found in illicit drugs. But DUO members say people are also unknowingly buying drugs cut with harmful substances strips don’t test for, like plastic and dog dewormer.

“Everybody who uses probably has way too many (test strips), because they’re everywhere,” Schaefer said. “We need something that does a better job of accurately telling you, really what’s in everything. … The technology is improving to get us there.”

Some local governments have yet to spend

Nearly 30 counties and municipalities reported spending zero settlement dollars so far, including several who said they weren’t sure how to spend it.

Monroe County in 2023 cited as a barrier “minimal information available and guidance on how to appropriately use opioid settlement funds.”

Delaying spending could make sense in some scenarios, Pendergrass said. Governments might want to take extra time for research and outreach. Or they could invest in interest-earning accounts that grow funds for ambitious future projects. But they owe an explanation to the public, she said.

And the funds could save lives now.  

“It’s great news that overdose rates are going down,” Pendergrass said. “But we can’t take our foot off the brake because people are still dying every day.” 

How are Wisconsin’s local governments spending millions in opioid settlement payouts?  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Three years into disbursements, strategies vary — and so does transparency. Some governments submitted required reports only after a reporter asked. Others have yet to spend anything.

The post How are Wisconsin’s local governments spending millions in opioid settlement payouts?  appeared first on WPR.

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• Sauk County’s public nursing home will remain county-owned — and open — after a resolution to begin closing the facility failed to advance during a chaotic Board of Supervisors meeting. It was a win for organizers who have relentlessly resisted efforts to privatize the facility. 

• Tensions have escalated since last year, when the board approved selling the nursing home to the for-profit Aria Healthcare. Opponents sued the county to halt the sale, and Aria backed out of the deal. 

• Some county board members say a sale is the best way to keep the facility open as costs increase. Opponents argue the board should prioritize investing in the home, rather than risking inferior privatized care. 

• Similar debates have unfolded in at least four other Wisconsin counties over the last two years.

Sauk County’s public nursing home will remain county-owned — for now. That’s after a resolution to begin closing the facility failed to advance to the full county board during a meeting that ended in chaos last week.

It was the latest twist during a relentless campaign by local residents to keep county control of services that have existed locally in some form since the 1800s. Heading into a special meeting Thursday, proponents of keeping the Sauk County Health Care Center public feared defeat. 

The Sauk County Board of Supervisors was expected to vote on a resolution to close the nursing home if it weren’t sold. The meeting drew more than 80 attendees to the county board room. Several held signs, declaring “SAVE OUR SAUK CO. HEALTH CARE,” and “WE LOVE OUR SAUK COUNTY NURSING HOME.”   

Instead, no vote took place, and the board adjourned the meeting within two minutes without allowing public comment.

Organizers yelled “shame on you” as board members left the room.

 “You won,” County Board Chair Tim McCumber shouted at the chanting organizers. “The damn nursing home hasn’t been sold, and it hasn’t been closed.”

Tensions have escalated since last year, when the board approved selling the nursing home to the for-profit Aria Healthcare. Opponents sued the county to halt the sale. The litigation and broader opposition prompted Aria, which did not respond to a request for comment, to back out this month, according to Thursday night’s tabled resolution. 

Board members supporting a sale call it the best way to keep the facility open as costs increased. Opponents argue the board should prioritize investing in the home, rather than risking inferior privatized care. 

Wisconsin counties debate nursing home sales

Similar debates have unfolded in at least four other Wisconsin counties over the last two years. St. Croix found new revenue streams to keep its nursing home public, while Washington County sold its facility to a private nursing home chain. Lincoln County approved a sale this month, and Portage County continues seeking buyers.  

Wisconsin still maintains more county-owned nursing homes than most states, but that number has shrunk in recent years, concerning nursing home residents and their loved ones.

County-owned nursing homes tend to be better staffed, have higher quality of care and draw fewer complaints than facilities owned by for-profits and nonprofits, a 2024 WPR/Wisconsin Watch analysis of U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data shows.

Sauk County’s nursing home has a history of high care ratings, but those have recently slipped. Federal inspections between October 2024 and April yielded three “immediate jeopardy” citations related to patient care. Those citations, the most severe type, dropped the facility’s overall rating to “much below average,” CMS data shows. 

Meanwhile, the nursing home has struggled with staffing, losing 10 employees since May 23, including its director of nursing, Thursday’s resolution said. More expensive contractors, many from out of town, are filling in. 

“We need to do everything to make sure that that facility is as successful as it used to be,” said Judy Brey, a leader of the citizen group suing the county. 

Her group filled the board room Thursday night.

By tabling the resolution, the board preserved the status quo. 

“It’ll be county-run until we have more patient care problems out there and the state intervenes, or we’re able to sell it,” said McCumber, who has had family stay at the facility.

While Thursday’s resolution had left room for Aria or another company to buy the home before finalizing its closure, some board members — even proponents of a sale — were not comfortable voting to potentially close it, said Supervisor Terry Spencer.

Spencer, who favors a sale, sits on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, one of three committees that met before the full board meeting and took no vote on the resolution.

“If it’s going to fail on its own, we’ll just let it fail on its own, and then we’ll close it,” Spencer said. “But I’d rather see it try than just say we’re closing our doors.”

Resident: Nursing home is ‘one big family’ 

Sauk County has operated a care facility in some form since 1871 — using it to treat diseases ranging from smallpox in the early 1900s to Alzheimer’s in the 1990s, according to the county’s website. Around 50 people live in the facility today, including Robert Leopold, 84, who has been there about a year. He and two other nursing home residents came to the board meeting to speak out against a closure.

“We (nursing home residents) play cards, we have fun, and it’s one big family,” Leopold, a retired teacher and longtime 4-H volunteer locally, said with tears in his eyes. 

“If we have to go someplace else, we’re all going to be a family gone,” he added. “I just hope the board realizes what a beautiful facility they’ve got and be proud of it and do something with it.”

The meeting’s rapid adjournment left no opportunity for Leopold — who was attending his first board meeting during the nursing home debate — or others to publicly voice their perspectives. Brey and others shouted demands that the board allow public comment, pointing out that nursing home residents had traveled 30 minutes to be there.

McCumber responded: “Shame on you for dragging people out of a nursing home.” 

“(Nursing home residents) showed up and they wanted to speak, but nobody gave them the chance,” Brey replied. “That is despicable.”

Sale falls through

While energized by Thursday’s outcome, residents are bracing for a future attempt to sell or close the home.

But McCumber said the county’s best option, Aria, likely won’t buy the facility until what he calls a “frivolous” lawsuit is dropped or dismissed.

Aria received board approval to purchase the facility in September, but the county still needed state approval. The Department of Health Services previously blocked Aria from buying another nursing home, citing past citations that, the department said, “demonstrate a history of noncompliance,” according to the Cap Times.

Aria’s four Wisconsin nursing homes have federal ratings ranging from “much above average” to “much below average.”

The state ultimately approved the Sauk County purchase in May, but the lawsuit prompted Aria to instead seek a leasing agreement with the county.

While the county board approved that arrangement, the state health department required additional approval, according to the resolution. The original state-approved sale plan required Aria to take over the nursing home by July 1. Moving forward with a sale or lease after that deadline would require a new license application, which can take up to 60 days.

Aria told county officials it no longer wished to continue due to misrepresentations of the company online and “unwarranted attacks” that could interfere with business operations and patient care, according to the resolution.

Asked about the potential for a future Aria purchase of the nursing home, resident Mary Camp responded: “You don’t want to know.”

The 79-year-old has lived there for four years and described it as the “best place in the world.”

“I thought it was terrible they were going to sell,” Camp said. “I don’t think (Aria is) going to buy it now. I don’t know. I hope not.”

Her favorite part about her home? The people. At least twice a day someone asks her how she’s doing, and “it’s fantastic,” she said. Her 56-year-old son lives there too.

As they peer into an uncertain future, Brey said she has no plans to slow down her group’s work. As Thursday’s meeting ended, she collected donations for legal fees during a discussion about next steps, including potentially campaigning to recall board members who favored a sale. 

“I feel the power of people being together and united on this,” Brey said. “They know we mean business.”

Sauk County organizers fight off nursing home closure — for now is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• People cannot send money to Wisconsin prisoners directly. They can instead transfer funds through a company called Access Corrections. 

• The private company’s website, app, phone and in-person delivery systems are no longer working across the state. 

• Access Corrections is part of the conglomerate that also runs the prison’s phone system, which has failed in recent months.

Editor’s note, May 27, 2025: The Access Corrections website was back online on May 26. Multiple people told WPR and Wisconsin Watch they could transfer funds to Wisconsin prisoners following the restoration.

The online system Wisconsin prisoners rely on to receive money from loved ones recently crashed, leaving them unable to pay for items like extra food and hygiene products. 

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections contracts a private company, Access Corrections, to allow people outside of prison to transfer funds to those inside. Those transfers occur through the company’s app, website, phone system, mail and in-person options. But multiple people told WPR and Wisconsin Watch they could not make deposits beginning this week. 

The Access Corrections website and app display nothing more than a white screen and the message: “Sorry, the service you’re looking for is currently unavailable.”

Those who dial an Access Corrections phone number hear a recorded message saying the company can’t take deposits online or over the phone and that it is working to resolve the issue. 

In-person deposits at locations throughout Wisconsin are also unavailable, according to an affiliate’s website. It is unclear whether physical mail deposits still work. 

Access Corrections operates deposit systems nationwide, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections says on its website. The company is part of Keefe Group, a conglomerate that includes ICSolutions, which runs a glitchy prison phone system that has left Wisconsin families disconnected in recent months. 

A Department of Corrections spokesperson said she was working on a response, which did not arrive by this story’s deadline. 

The Keefe Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Robin Guenterberg typically sends his daughter at Taycheedah Correctional Institution $300 a month, with Access Corrections collecting a fee. 

His daughter, who he requested not be publicly named, uses most of that money to buy items  from the prison’s commissary. She has a chronic health condition and relies on commissary chicken and tuna packets to supplement regularly provided meals, Guenterberg said. 

The daughter has lost more than 20 pounds since entering prison late last year, Guenterberg said, adding that he and his wife purchase vending machine items during visits and make additional deposits to help their daughter maintain a healthy weight. 

If Access Corrections fails to quickly restart deposits, she may lack funds to place a commissary order for next week, Guenterberg said.

Sarah Liebzeit successfully added funds to her incarcerated son’s account late Monday night. But issues with his prison-provided electronic tablet have prevented him from spending it at Stanley Correctional Institution, she said.

“This is now another issue because the tablets have been just horrible,” Liebzeit said. 

Some incarcerated people work low-wage jobs inside their prison. Their pay falls short of covering phone calls, extra food, hygiene products and medical co-pays without outside deposits, multiple family members told WPR and Wisconsin Watch. 

Nicole Johnson said her incarcerated boyfriend earns $20 every two weeks at his Dodge Correctional Institution job. Wisconsin’s typical copay charge of $7.50 per face-to-face medical visit is among the highest in the country — more than half of his weekly earnings. 

Johnson said she tries to add $50 to her boyfriend’s account twice a month so he can purchase rice and beans to supplement regularly provided meals. 

“It’s just how I take care of him right now,” she said.

The Access Corrections crash, she added, “makes me sad because I don’t want him to be hungry all freaking week.”

Vendor failure means Wisconsin prisoners can’t buy food or other items is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• We spoke to more than 25 people who reported problems connecting via phone calls in Wisconsin prisons. The problems began intermittently after prisons began distributing free electronic tablets in March 2024, and they have worsened more recently. 

• Tablets were supposed to improve communication and give prisoners more flexibility to call loved ones, but the private contractor who runs the prison’s communication system has failed to keep up with increased call volume.

Wisconsin prisoners have struggled to connect with loved ones for weeks and even months as a state contractor fails to keep up with increasing demand for its call and messaging services. 

The Department of Corrections last year began working with Texas-based ICSolutions, the prison system’s phone provider, to make electronic tablets free for every state prisoner. The state allocated $2.5 million to cover some of the cost. The program aims to boost quality of life behind bars by making it easier for incarcerated people to connect with their loved ones and access resources.

Intermittent problems began after some prisons began distributing the tablets in March 2024. The issues worsened this spring, prisoners and their family members say, spreading across institutions that imprison more than 23,000. 

WPR and Wisconsin Watch heard from more than 25 people experiencing connection difficulties at multiple prisons. Incarcerated people described dialing a number multiple times before getting through and waiting more than an hour for calls to connect. Family members described hearing their phones ring but receiving no option to connect with the caller; some calls have dropped mid-conversation. 

Family members are airing frustrations in a nearly 300-member Facebook forum launched specifically to discuss the phone problems.

Brenda McIntyre, incarcerated at Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center, traditionally calls her grandchildren every weekend. But the overwhelmed system blocked a recent check-in.

“‘Grandma, why didn’t you call me? You said you’re going to call me,’” McIntyre recalled one  grandchild asking when they finally connected. 

Phone services somewhat improved late last week, McIntyre said. But she worries about missing updates about her sister’s cancer treatment.

“It’s been a living hell,” she said.

Neither ICSolutions nor its parent company responded to requests for comment. But in an undated statement on its website, the company promised improvements in the “coming weeks,” with “significant optimization coming this summer.” The statement recommended shifting calls to “off-peak hours” — before 5 p.m. or after 9 p.m. But family members say they are not always available at such hours. 

Corrections spokesperson Beth Hardtke squarely blamed ICSolutions, saying state-run infrastructure and Wi-Fi access played no role in the issue.

“To be very clear, the quality of service that ICSolutions is providing is not acceptable to the department. If reliability and customer service do not improve, the department will be forced to reevaluate our contract,” Hardtke wrote in an email.

The statement from ICSolutions blamed “unexpected challenges” from increased demand for calls. But Hardtke said the company previously assured the department it could handle higher call volume during the rollout.

Prisoners in nine of Wisconsin’s 36 adult institutions — including all three women’s facilities — still lack tablets. The glitches affect them, too, because ICSolutions services the entire phone system, not just tablets.

The corrections department is pausing tablet distribution while trying to fix the reliability problems, Hardtke said. 

Tablets mean more calls 

Emily Curtis said she was cautiously excited when her incarcerated fiance gained access to a tablet at Stanley Correctional Institution.

He previously could call only from the prison’s landlines and during limited hours. The tablet enabled calls most anytime, even during lockdowns. For about two months, the two talked daily — right before Curtis fell asleep and right after she woke up.

“It was great,” Curtis said. “Until everything kind of hit the fan.”

Wisconsin is not the only state prison system that has issued tablets. 

Unlike some states, however, Wisconsin allows people to make calls from their cells and doesn’t limit the number of calls they can make, Hartdke said via email. That policy, which the department communicated to ICSolutions during contract negotiations, naturally increased call volume, she added. 

Calls from Green Bay Correctional Institution, for instance, increased by nearly 200% after the tablet rollout, Hardtke wrote.

Curtis now hears from her fiance just once daily, usually very early in the morning. Their 14-year-old son has gone weeks without talking to his dad, Curtis said, because the phone lines are too jammed once he’s home from school.

Prison phone calls: costly for families, profitable for providers

ICSolutions and the prison system make millions each year from phone calls. The company charges six cents a minute and shares revenue with the state, adding nearly $4 million to its general fund in recent years. 

Curtis said she spends roughly $250 a month on calls.

Tablets present new revenue opportunities for prison contractors. An ICSolutions affiliate sold them to incarcerated Wisconsinites before the state made them free. And even with free tablets, prisoners pay for calls, messaging and other applications.

The high cost of phone calls has long burdened the incarcerated and their families. The Federal Communications Commission last year responded by capping fees. Apps for TV and music aren’t subject to the same regulations. That makes tablets a safer investment for prison telecommunication companies, said Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative, which focuses on solutions to mass incarceration.

Incarcerated people often greet the rollout of tablets with excitement, Bertram said. But the attempt to improve virtual communication comes as Wisconsin, like other states, has restricted other communication — like physical mail. 

In December 2021, the corrections department began rerouting all prisoner-bound mail to Maryland, where a company called TextBehind scans each piece of mail and sends a digital copy to those incarcerated. The controversial effort aims to reduce the flow of drugs into prisons.

The change delays access to mail and boosts reliance on tablets. As a result, technology glitches have bigger consequences, Betram said.

‘We’re helpless’: Blocked calls mean lonely holidays

Charles Gill is incarcerated at Oshkosh Correctional Institution. His fiance lives in New York, and his adult son lives in New Jersey, too far to visit in person. Gill relies largely on his tablet for communication. But online texts have been delayed by two to three days, Gill said. 

“We’re helpless,” Gill said.“To be a father, not knowing what’s going on with your child, to be in a relationship with someone and not knowing what’s going on with them. God forbid something happens and somebody goes to the hospital, somebody gets hurt. We don’t know about it, and we can’t reach out to nobody and talk about it.”

Gill felt particularly helpless on Easter weekend, the anniversary of his brother’s death. He couldn’t reach any family members.

“The phones were just destroyed on (Easter) weekend, ” he said. “You could really feel the tension in the air because people weren’t able to call their families.”

He worries about a repeat around Mother’s Day.

“Having that ability to speak to someone who still sees you as a human being and not a number is vital,” said Marianne Oleson, the operations director for Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing of Wisconsin.

That’s especially the case for mothers who are incarcerated. The majority of women in prisons nationally have children under the age of 18, according to a 2016 U.S. Department of Justice report. Phone calls offer incarcerated women their only chance to act as parent, wife or daughter — ensuring their loved ones are safe, Oleson said.

The faulty phone system leaves incarcerated people with tough choices. 

“We even have to choose to try the phone over going to meals,” Christa Williams, who is incarcerated at Ellsworth prison, wrote in an email.

Shawnda Schultz said phone failures have left her incarcerated mother in tears during recent calls.

“It bothers me because their phone calls are the one thing that (prisoners) have to keep them going in there, and it keeps us going too, because that’s our mother,” Schultz said.

Schultz’s sister recently delivered her first baby. If the phones don’t improve, she worries her mother will miss hearing updates, like when her grandchild says his first word.

“I found myself actually in tears because I’m just like, ‘what if something happens to my mom?’” Schultz said.

‘It’s been a living hell’: Wisconsin prison phone failures leave families disconnected is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.