Gov. Scott Walker's administration appoints fourth Lincoln Hills leader in two years

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - The state's troubled teen prison on Thursday got its fourth leader in just over two years — a Wisconsin deputy warden with extensive experience in adult corrections but not juvenile facilities.

Gov. Scott Walker's administration announced it was putting Jason Benzel, the deputy warden of Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution, in charge of Lincoln Hills School for Boys, which has been under a criminal investigation for three years.

Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls have been the subject of a criminal investigation for three years.

Separately, a federal judge last summer ordered the state to greatly curb its use of solitary confinement and pepper spray at the teen prison north of Wausau. Walker has said he plans to close the prison and convert it to an adult prison if he is re-elected this fall.

Benzel replaces Wendy Peterson, who stepped down as superintendent in September to take a lower-paying job as the prison's education director. He will start Jan. 22 and earn $101,000 a year, the same amount Peterson received when she led the prison.

Jason Benzel, superintendent Lincoln Hills School for Boys

Benzel comes on board as the criminal investigation of Lincoln Hills heats up. Last month, federal prosecutors notified two former guards they could be charged over allegations they broke a 16-year-old inmate's arm and left him naked in a cell for hours. The inmate said in a civil rights lawsuit that he wasn't taken to a doctor for a week.

Benzel has worked as a correctional officer, correctional sergeant and parole agent. Most of his work has been in adult corrections, but he has also worked as a juvenile review and release specialist.

“I have full confidence in Jason in his new role (as) superintendent and look forward to working closely with him as we continue to make further enhancements and begin work to transition towards a regional juvenile correctional model," Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher said in a statement.

Jeffery Roman and Sharlen Moore, co-founders of the group Youth Justice Milwaukee, issued a statement saying they hoped he would treat juvenile inmates differently than adult inmates.

“We hope Mr. Benzel will be the kind of leader who understands that rehabilitating young people does not mean warehousing them like adult prisoners — and more importantly, he should only be at Lincoln Hills for a short time because that failed facility needs to close as soon as possible," their statement said.

Lincoln Hills has churned through superintendents since around the time the prison was raided by investigators in December 2015.

John Ourada abruptly stepped down as superintendent days before the raid. He was replaced by Wayne Olson, who gave up the post in April 2016, three months after he took it.

Peterson then took over until this past fall. Juvenile Corrections Administrator John Paquin has been running the facility on a temporary basis since then.

Benzel beat out other finalists for the job, all of whom are Wisconsin Department of Corrections employees. They were Brian Gustke, the security director at Lincoln Hills; Pamela Wallace, the warden of Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility; and Pete Jaeger, superintendent of John C. Burke Correctional Center.

Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said the agency had conducted a national search to find a leader for Lincoln Hills but did not know if anyone from outside Wisconsin had applied for it.

The GOP governor announced an $80 million plan last week to seek legislative approval in 2019 to convert Lincoln Hills to an adult prison and open five juvenile lockups around the state. Democrats support that concept but contend he should move more quickly.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Thursday he was reviewing Walker's plan and is willing to consider approving it more quickly than Walker first suggested.

"I don't want to rush to judgment until we've had time to study it and understand what all the possibilities are," he said.