(The Center Square) – A former Wisconsin prison warden, who was convicted of a criminal charge tied to the death of one of his inmates, was paid nearly $118,000 for unused vacation time after he resigned, according to state data obtained by The Center Square.
Randall Hepp was charged with felony misconduct in public office in June 2024, the same month he resigned his warden job at the Waupun Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison northwest of Milwaukee.
Hepp pleaded no-contest to a lesser charge and paid a fine and court costs that totaled about $1,100 last year, according to court records.
He and eight of his staff had faced prosecution for the deaths of two inmates. One died of dehydration and malnutrition after guards shut off water to his cell in solitary confinement, according to news reports. The other — who had insisted he needed medical treatment — suffered a stroke in solitary confinement. His death wasn’t discovered for at least 12 hours.
Hepp’s resignation — which the state Department of Corrections called a “retirement” – also came amid a federal investigation into drug smuggling that involved prison staff, news reports said at the time.
Hepp could not be reached to comment for this article. The Department of Corrections didn’t respond to requests to comment.
Wisconsin doesn’t require private employers to pay accrued leave time when their employees are separated from their jobs, but the department pays regardless of the circumstances, according to its policies The Center Square obtained with a records request. The state allows long-time employees to reserve up to three weeks of vacation time each year for cash payouts, without limit.
Patrick McIlheran, of the Badger Institute, a Milwaukee-based policy group that advocates for limited government, said generous benefits for public workers has led to labor law reform in recent years. That includes Wisconsin’s Act 10, which limits labor union bargaining and is the subject of ongoing legal challenges.
“Are big accruals and big payouts the kind of benefit that Wisconsin needs to be competitive in hiring talent — or is it out of line with what’s common in the private sector?” McIlheran told The Center Square.
The state paid Hepp $117,840.55 in late June 2024, which indicates he had accrued about 34 weeks of paid leave. His annual salary at the time was about $175,000, according to state records.
Payouts total millions each year
Data obtained by The Center Square show vacation payouts for state employees who leave their jobs total millions of dollars each year and have increased in the past three. The state did not disclose the reasons for their departures.
In 2023, the state paid about $4.6 million. In 2024, it was about $5.5 million. And in 2025 it exceeded $6 million.
The average payment is about $3,000 per person, but 11 people netted more than $100,000 apiece in recent years, including Hepp.
The others included:
– About $243,000 for Chad Neumann, a former executive with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which has the highest-paid employees of state agencies. His salary in 2024 was about $888,0000, according to state data.
– About $158,000 for Michael Witkovsky, a former psychiatrist for the Department of Health Services. That was more than half of his annual salary, which in 2024 was about $310,000.
– About $140,000 for Michael Harmelink, a former investment board employee.
– About $127,000 for Gary Boughton, the former warden of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, which houses the state’s most dangerous inmates. That payout slightly exceeded his annual salary, which indicates he had accrued more than a year’s worth of vacation time.
– About $120,000 for Chirag Gandhi, a former investment board executive who was fired for poor performance, state records show. He challenged the handling of his dismissal because he didn’t receive a more generous severance payout, but that appeal was dismissed by the state’s Employment Relations Commission. His salary was about $475,000.
– About $114,000 for Biren Patel, a former engineer for the Department of Transportation.
– About $111,000 for Robert Lemcke, a former transportation specialist for the Department of Transportation.
– About $109,000 for Patricia Benesh, a policy advisor for the Department of Health who died while she was still employed.
– About $102,000 for John Battaglia, a former psychiatrist for Department of Health Services.
– About $102,000 for Morna Foy, the former president of the Wisconsin Technical College System.
