Purpose Statement
Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI) provides female inmates with a safe and secure environment that is gender-responsive. TCI utilizes gender-specific guiding principles to assist in the positive growth of inmates through treatment, education, and appropriate supervision, thereby fostering successful reentry to their families and communities upon release.
Institution Information
All adult female correctional facilities, including TCI, Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center, and Milwaukee Women's Correctional Center, were joined together as the Wisconsin Women's Correctional System on August 21, 2005, falling under the supervision of the TCI warden. TCI is a maximum- and medium-security facility entrusted with the custody and supervision of adult female offenders. It also serves as the intake, assessment and evaluation facility for all female inmates sentenced to adult custody.
Taycheedah's history began in the early 1800's, when Governor James Doty built his home in Fond du Lac, which still stands on the institution grounds. In the early 1850's, female offenders were housed in the Wisconsin State Prison, known today as Waupun Correctional Institution. In 1912, work began on the creation of a women's facility and, in 1921, the Wisconsin Industrial Home for Women was opened. The first inmates of the Wisconsin Industrial Home for Women were mostly committed for "crimes against morality," while repeat and more violent or serious offenders continued to be housed at the State Prison in Waupun.
In 1931, work began on the Wisconsin Prison for Women, located adjacent to the Industrial Home. This facility was completed and opened in 1933, and the women yet housed in Waupun were transferred there. The two facilities continued to operate separately on the same grounds, until, in 1945, the facilities were consolidated under the name Wisconsin Home for Women. In 1975, the legislature officially changed the name to Taycheedah Correctional Institution.