DOC Internal Affairs Office
In 2020, under the leadership of then Secretary, Kevin Carr, the Office of Internal Affairs was reestablished. The communicated purpose of the Internal Affairs Office is to conduct investigations of reported employee misconduct.
However, despite what has been communicated as a well-meaning initiative to create greater accountability within the department, from the outset, the public and individuals currently incarcerated have been largely kept in ignorance about how to make reports to IA officials. Furthermore, the department has not demonstrated an openness or transparency about the work that has been conducted and/or achieved during the last four years, with limited exceptions.
To the best of our knowledge, the department has not provided instructions to the inmate population regarding how they may go about making reports, not how such reports would be handled. We have received reports from a small group of currently incarcerated people who, through their own research and advocacy, discovered its existence. In each report, we have been told that they never received a response back from an employee of that unit.
Equally disturbing, the department has generally resisted inquiries from members of the public who have requested the name and contact information for the individual leading this unit. The response has been to request that individuals make their concerns known through the department's general email box that is monitored by DOC communication and public relations specialists. From there, the department would exercise its own discernment concerning to whom such email should be forwarded.
Even so, Christine Preston leads this unit, and she can be reached at Christine.Preston@wisconsin.gov.
We encourage you to make contact with Internal Affairs should you become aware of employee misconduct and/or wrongdoing that has not been fairly, adequately, and/or honestly addressed by the employee's immediate supervisor or the facility/department where the employee is assigned. We do recommend making a good-faith effort to resolve the issue at such levels, but should it fail, please do not hesitate to exercise your voice of advocacy at this level.
You are also welcome to share your concerns with us using our online contact form.