Judge orders former Wisconsin warden to pay $500 fine in inmate's death
[April 29, 2025]
By TODD RICHMOND
JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered a former Wisconsin prison
warden implicated in an inmate’s death to pay a $500 fine to resolve the
case after concluding he has no criminal record and didn’t realize his
guards weren’t following policy.
Prosecutors charged former Waupun Correctional Institution Warden
Randall Hepp and multiple members of his staff in June 2024 in the
deaths of inmates Cameron Williams and Donald Maier.
Hepp was charged with felony misconduct in connection with Maier’s
death, a count punishable by up to three-and-a-half years in prison and
$10,000 in fines. Maier died of dehydration and malnutrition in solitary
confinement in February 2024 after guards turned off the water in his
cell, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators said Hepp failed
to ensure his staff followed policy.
Dodge County District Attorney Andrea Will reduced the charge Monday to
a misdemeanor count of violating laws governing a state or county
institution in exchange for Hepp’s no contest plea. The new charge is
punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. Will told Judge
Martin Devries she reduced the charge because Hepp was well respected
within the state Department of Corrections and didn’t know guards
weren’t following policy.
“We have to make a decision about where to spend our resources and where
to extend our resources and it’s not an easy thing to charge people in
leadership of an institution,” Will later told reporters.
DeVries ordered Hepp to pay the $500 fine and court costs but didn’t
sentence him to jail. The judge cited his service record, his lack of a
criminal record and his “subpar employees” who failed to follow policy.
The judge called Hepp’s prosecution “symbolic.”
Hepp’s attorney, Michael Steinle, told the judge Hepp was “extremely
remorseful” and while a misdemeanor conviction might not mean much to a
lot of people it does to him. Hepp said he understood the plea bargain
and waived his right to a trial. He and Steinle left the courthouse
without speaking to reporters.
A ‘slap on the wrist’
Maier's mother, Jeanette Maier, called Hepp's sentence a “slap on the
wrist" and said her son had been treated worse than a caged animal.
“Nothing can bring my son back but I like to think we as a society would
at least learn something from this tragedy so it never happens to
someone else's son,” Maier said in a statement.
Warden’s staff charged in deaths
Eight members of Hepp’s staff were charged in June with abuse or
misconduct in the deaths of Williams or Maier. Online court records show
charges were dismissed against one of them this month and another
pleaded guilty in September to a reduced count of misdemeanor violating
laws governing a penal institution and was assessed a $250 fine. The
remaining cases are pending.
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From left, Randall Hepp, former Waupun Correctional Institution
warden, and his attorney Michael Steinle stand inside Dodge County
Circuit Court in Jueneau, Wis., Monday, April 28, 2025, after a
judge ordered Hepp to pay a $500 fine to resolve a misdemeanor
charge in connection with an inmate's 2024 death. (AP Photo/Todd
Richmond)
Williams died of a stroke while in solitary confinement at Waupun in
October 2023. His body was not discovered for at least 12 hours.
According to court documents, Williams told an inmate advocate three
days before he died that he needed to go to a hospital but no action
was taken. He had fallen in the shower two days earlier and crawled
back to his cell. A day before, he had collapsed on the way back to
his cell but neither fall was documented. No one checked on him the
night he died.
Multiple inmates have died at Waupun since 2023
The prison, with a stone exterior and high, castle-like guard
towers, opened in 1854 and has long been a target for closure. Seven
inmates, including Williams and Maier, have died there since 2023.
One killed himself, one died of a fentanyl overdose and one died of
what investigators suspect was suicide. Two more deaths are under
investigation.
A federal investigation into smuggling at the prison has so far
netted at least one former employee who pleaded guilty to smuggling
cellphones and drugs in exchange for money. Inmates have filed a
class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions and a lack of
health care.
Wisconsin’s governor has refused calls to shutter the prison
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has rejected calls to shutter the
facility, despite the problems. He has said he wants broader
criminal justice reform and a plan to house the facility’s roughly
1,700 inmates.
Hepp’s lawyer said senior guards at Waupun refuse to work in the
solitary confinement unit, leaving it to junior guards and guards
brought in from other prisons to deal with staff shortages. Steinle
said problems will continue at Waupun until a new prison is built.
“Things happen in these restricted housing units, obviously,” the
judge said. “But clearly this is not what you expect as far as
treatment of human beings.”
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