LoginDo more than a quarter of Wisconsin state employees work for the Corrections Department?
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Yes.
By a traditional count, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections accounts for about 28.5% of state employees, according to the 2025-27 state budget.
The total number of full-time-equivalent positions in state government is 74,426.
But that includes 38,239 Universities of Wisconsin positions.Β
UW employees, who are funded largely by federal funding, tuition and other revenue, typically are excluded from such counts.
Excluding UW employees, the state FTE total is 36,187.
Correctionsβ 10,328 positions account for 28.5% of that.
The next-largest departments are Health Services (6,741 positions) and Transportation (3,258).
Wisconsin Watch reported in May that Wisconsinβs prison population is heading toward a record high, with womenβs prisons 78% over capacity and menβs facilities 30% over capacity.
Wisconsin Watchβs prison tracker shows that as of May 1, the adult prison population was 23,577. The record of 23,826 was set in 2019.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Legislative Fiscal Bureau: Comparative Summary of Provisions: 2025 Wisconsin Act 15
- Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsinβs prison population is heading toward a record high. Track the trend here.
- Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin prison population tracker
Do more than a quarter of Wisconsin state employees work for the Corrections Department? 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.
