301.36 General supervision and inspection by department.

(1) General authority. The department shall investigate and supervise all of the state prisons under s. 302.01, all juvenile correctional facilities, all secured residential care centers for children and youth, and all juvenile detention facilities and familiarize itself with all of the circumstances affecting their management and usefulness.

(2) Prisons. The department shall visit all places in which persons convicted or suspected of crime are confined, and ascertain their arrangement for the separation of the hardened criminals from juvenile offenders and persons suspected of crime or detained as witnesses; collect statistics concerning the inmates, their treatment, employment and reformation; and collect information of other facts and considerations affecting the increase or decrease of crime.

(3) Inspections. The department shall inquire into the methods of treatment, instruction, government and management of inmates of the institutions mentioned in this section; the conduct of their trustees, managers, directors, superintendents and other officers and employees; the condition of the buildings, grounds and all other property pertaining to the institutions, and all other matters pertaining to their usefulness and management; and recommend to the officers in charge such changes and additional provisions as it deems proper.

(4) Frequency of inspections. The department shall inspect and investigate each institution at least annually and, when directed by the governor, it shall conduct a special investigation into an institution's management, or anything connected with its management, and report to the governor the testimony taken, the facts found and conclusions drawn.

(5) Enforcement by attorney general and district attorneys. Upon request of the department, the attorney general or the district attorney serving the proper county shall aid in any investigation, inspection, hearing or trial had under this chapter or those sections of ch. 938 relating to powers of the department, and shall institute and prosecute all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of those provisions and for the punishment of violations of those provisions. The attorney general or district attorney so requested shall report or confer with the department regarding the request, within 30 days after receipt of the request.

(6) Opportunity to inspect. All trustees, managers, directors, superintendents and other officers or employees of the institutions shall at all times afford to every member of the department and its agents, unrestrained facility for inspection of and free access to all parts of the buildings and grounds and to all books and papers of the institutions; and shall give, either verbally or in writing, such information as the department requires. Any person who violates this subsection shall forfeit not less than $10 nor more than $100.

(7) Testimonial power; expenses. The director or any person delegated by the director may administer oaths, take testimony and cause depositions to be taken. All expenses of the investigations, including fees of officers and witnesses, shall be charged to the appropriation for the department.

(8) Statistics to be furnished. Wherever the department is required to collect statistics, the person or agency shall furnish the required statistics on request.

(9) Cooperation with local governing bodies. Upon request by the governing body of a city, village, or town in which a juvenile correctional facility established under s. 301.16 (1w) is located, the department shall meet with the governing body to discuss matters of local concern pertaining to the juvenile correctional facility.

History: 1989 a. 31, 107; 1995 a. 27, 77; 1999 a. 9; 2005 a. 344; 2019 a. 8.