During the 1940-1951 period the Division of Corrections supervised three adult correctional institutions: the Wisconsin State Prison at Waupun, the Wisconsin State Reformatory at Green Bay, and the Wisconsin Home for Women at Taycheedah. The Wisconsin State Prison was a maximum security institution for adult felony offenders and was designated as the reception and treatment center under the Sex Crimes Act. The Wisconsin State Reformatory received first felony offenders between the ages of 16 and 30. The Wisconsin Home for Women received adult female felony offenders.
Treatment programs at the Wisconsin State Prison emphasized vocational training through prison industries including the manufacture of shoes, metal furniture, paint, license plates and clothing, and printing. Inmates also engaged in large scale farming, forestry and conservation. Wisconsin State Reformatory programs emphasized academic education and vocational training, and included some small scale industries such as clothing manufacture and auto body work. Programs at the Wisconsin Home for Women included academic training, vocational training and supervised work programs.
The Division of Corrections also supervised two institutions for juvenile delinquents: the Wisconsin School for Boys at Waukesha and the Wisconsin School for Girls at Oregon. The program at the Wisconsin School for Boys emphasized academic education and pre-vocational training. A few of the most serious male juvenile offenders over the age of 15 were committed to the Wisconsin State Reformatory at Green Bay. Delinquent girls were committed to the Wisconsin School for Girls, located between Madison and Oregon. After an initial diagnostic period, they were placed in foster care or retained at the institution for academic and pre-vocational training.
