Demonstrators Call For Action
Green Bay, WI. November 9, 2023
Organizers Expo of Wisconsin and supporters assembled outside Green Bay Correctional Facility on Nov. 9th to conduct a demonstration and candlelight vigil. Rally-goers call for an end to what is described as extended lockdowns and inhuman conditions at the 125 year old prison.
Demonstrators chant “Stop the torture; end the lockdown; close Green Bay” Green Bay Correctional Institution has been operating under “modified movement” protocols since the spring. Rally-goers say it's time for that to end.
A Green Bay Correctional Institution guard overlooks the gathering crowd below the watch tower. Green Bay Correctional Institution has instated “modified movement” polices that restrict inmates to their cells for extended periods and limit access to programs and resources.
Erected by inmates in 1921, a 22-foot-tall concrete wall surrounds the two original 294-bed cell halls. North Cell Hall was built between 1898-1904 and South Cell Hall from 1915-1922
Green Bay Correctional Institution took its first inmates in 1898, then known as Wisconsin State Reformatory. “This is a dungeon, they call it the castle” said Monteazul Cruz-Seymour, of Racine, not pictured. Cruz-Seymour was incarcerated at GBCI from 1995 to 2003.
The demonstration and candlelight vigil was organized by Ex-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) and interfaith justice advocacy organization, JOSHUA. Attendees call for the end of extended lockdowns and the close of the 125-year-old Green Bay Correctional Institute.