JUNEAU – The lieutenant in charge in the days leading up to the 2024 death of a man in Waupun Correctional Institution was given a $500 fine for not doing a welfare check on the man before his death from probable dehydration and malnutrition.
Brandon Fisher appeared for his sentencing in Dodge County Circuit Court on May 29, where Judge Brian Pfitzinger imposed the fine, saying Fisher has already suffered consequences by losing his job and suffering the public humiliation of being charged.
“He was a part of a system that failed. That’s what happened,” Pfitzinger said after handing down the sentence. “As was the warden, as were the guards, as were a lot of people. His being charged, the warden being charged, all these other people being charged has now put an exclamation point on the failure, and I hope that that has caused the system to be better.”
The family of the man who died pushed back on the lack of probation or jail time for those involved in a system that has led to several deaths in Waupun.
In a letter read by prosecutor Melissa Zilavy, the mother of 69-year-old Donald Maier applauded the district attorney and the sheriff for bringing the cases to court, but said nothing will bring back the loved one they lost.
“The slap on the wrist and the embarrassment of being caught and arrested appear to be the sentence they settled for,” the letter says. “I feel that each and every person who ignored my son and therefore had a hand in his death should spend some time in jail, so that they learn firsthand what it is like to be dependent on other guards for food and water and medical care and protection.”
At a plea hearing in February, Fisher had two felony charges of abuse of residents of penal facilities reduced to two misdemeanor charges of violating the laws of a state institution. One of those charges was dismissed on May 29, due to Fisher’s testimony in another of the cases.
Fisher was among nine Waupun Correctional Institution staff members arrested and charged in June 2024. He was one of seven charged in connection with the February 2024 death of 63-year-old Donald Maier, who died of malnutrition and probable dehydration in what the Dodge County medical examiner ruled a homicide, and one of three charged in connection with the October 2023 death of 24-year-old Cameron Williams, who died of a stroke.
Fisher was one of three staffers who discussed entering Williams’ cell the night before he died, after they were unable to get a response from him during a welfare check. But staff never conducted a cell entry, and 24-year-old Williams was found dead of a rare stroke caused by multiple blood clots in his brain. Fellow residents said Williams’ cries for help in the hours before his death went ignored.
Fisher was the lieutenant of the restrictive housing unit Maier was in the days leading up to his death. Fisher was told by another correctional officer that there were concerns Maier was having a seizure, but was “pulled away to a higher priority issue on the unit,” according to criminal complaints. Maier was later found dead in his cell, after not receiving food, water or medicine for days.
All nine staff members arrested in June 2024 were originally charged with felonies. Of those, five cases have concluded with reduced or dismissed charges. Former Warden Randall Hepp and former correctional officer Sarah Ransbottom were each convicted of violating the laws of a state institution. Two others – former correctional sergeants Jeramie Chalker and Alexander Hollfelder – had their cases dismissed. Tanner Leopold also had charges related to the death of Williams entirely dismissed on May 21.
The charges against staff came amid scrutiny of Waupun’s maximum-security prison for a string of seven resident deaths within two years and a federal investigation into an alleged contraband smuggling ring. Current and former staff have tied many of the issues at Waupun and other state prisons to long-term staffing shortages.
Fisher and his attorney, Jane Christopherson, declined to speak with a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter following the hearing.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Waupun staffer tied to dehydration death receives fine, no jail
Reporting by Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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