A report compiled by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism says a Waupun Correctional officer is accused of abusing more than two dozen inmates in solitary confinement. The article’s author, Bill Lueders, focused on 40 allegations of staff on inmate abuse since 2011 in Waupun’s segregation unit with officer Joseph Beahm named in 28 of the incidents. A dozen inmate lawsuits since 2011 accuse Beahm of abuse. Six have been dismissed and six are pending. Lueders says one pending lawsuit was filed by inmate Laron McKinley. McKinley alleges he was subjected to torture after he admitted tossing fecal matter at a guard. Lueders says segregation is a place where the most serious offenders end up and many of the inmantes in segretation suffer from mental illness. The state Department of Corrections said there is no evidence of abuse. State Senator Lena Taylor of Milwaukee and former state prison chief Walter Dickey have both called for an investigation in response to the Center’s findings.
