How we reported this story

For this investigation of Wisconsin’s juvenile prisons, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel conducted dozens of interviews and reviewed more than 1,000 pages of documents gathered under the state’s open records law. Those who were interviewed include the parents of juvenile inmates at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, current and former guards, corrections officials, prosecutors, public defenders, law enforcement officers and elected officials. Among the records that were reviewed are prison incident reports; internal investigation reports; sheriff department reports; inmate requests for compensation; budget reports; court documents; and emails sent by prison workers and other state officials. All accounts in this article come from one of these sources and often a combination of sources. For instance, the account of an inmate having his foot smashed in November 2015 is drawn from interviews with those who were there that night or directly familiar with what happened, as well as incident reports, the boy’s account as submitted in a notice of claim, and transcripts of interviews conducted by internal investigators. The Journal Sentinel has not named Lincoln Hills juveniles who have been injured, except in the case of Kenyadi Evans, whose foot was smashed. As an adult, Evans has received a large settlement from state taxpayers and has been charged with a felony.