On July 4, 1851, Governor Nelson Dewey selected the Waupun area to be the site of the Wisconsin State Prison.

[4] In 1918, Warden Henry Town reported a decrease in the prison population over a two-year period.

Lee argued that "The value to the inmates, both physical and mental, because of the fresh air and sunshine, the clean, wholesome outdoor work, and the semi-freedom of the camps, cannot be estimated in dollars and cents."

Lee boasted that "Corporal punishment is a thing of the past, stripes and red uniforms following suit."

Prison guards worked between 11 and 12 hours per shift, and Warden Lee proposed to have that number reduced to eight.

[7] The charges were specifically related to the deaths of inmates Donald Maier and Cameron Williams.

The Dodge County Sheriff's Office also investigated the deaths of inmates Tyshun Lemons and Dean Hoffmann during the same period but declined to bring charges.

[22][23] Don Gorske, who holds the Guinness World Record for the most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime, was a CO at the prison from 1986 to 2011.