Group calls for closing youth prisons
Madison — A coalition called Thursday for closing the state’s youth prisons next year and focusing on rehabilitating juvenile offenders locally.
The proposal by Youth Justice Milwaukee is aimed at having young offenders treated or incarcerated in Milwaukee County instead of Lincoln Hills School for Boys or Copper Lake School for Girls.
Those Northwoods facilities share a campus three and a half hours from Milwaukee and are under a criminal investigation for allegations of child neglect and inmate abuse.
“Lincoln Hills represents a failed model that just can’t be fixed,” said Jeff Roman of Youth Justice Milwaukee in a conference call with reporters.
About 100 juveniles from Milwaukee County are housed at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, according to the group. That accounts for nearly two-thirds of the 160 inmates at the two facilities.
Continuing coverage: Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools scandal
The group wants to establish a variety of community-based settings that would focus on rehabilitation over incarceration.
The Department of Corrections has proposed spending an additional $3.3 million at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake over two years to help reform the institutions. Youth Justice Milwaukee opposes that.
“It doesn’t make sense to put more dollars into a system that is currently not working,” said Sharlen Moore of Youth Justice.
Instead, the group wants to transfer authority over the youth prisons to the state Department of Children and Families or the Department of Health Services. Then, it wants to close the prisons in 2017.
Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said in a written statement the agency has made substantial reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, including providing workers with additional training, equipping them with body cameras and expanding medical care at the facilities.
"DOC will continue to identify and implement reforms that positively impact the safety and security of youth in (Division of Juvenile Corrections) custody," his statement said.