Walker doubts prison plan

He says Lincoln Hills alternatives probably won’t be in next budget

Maple Bluff — Gov. Scott Walker is citing new obstacles to a proposed juvenile correctional center in Milwaukee County after he publicly aired the idea earlier this month.

Three weeks ago, Walker said he was open to having the state help pay to build a Milwaukee County facility aimed at limiting how many teens are sent to a state youth prison that is under federal investigation for child neglect and prisoner abuse.

But in a year-end interview this week, the second-term Republican cast doubt on that proposal, questioning whether making piecemeal changes to the juvenile system is feasible.

Walker also said he had not been aware of problems at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls until a criminal investigation began in 2015. Trouble had been roiling the prison for years as warning signs were overlooked.

A Racine County judge wrote to Walker in early 2012, alerting him to the sexual assault of a boy from that county and the failure by Lincoln Hills staff to get him medical care for hours. Walker’s staff has said the letter did not go to the governor. The judge never received a response.

Walker has never visited Lincoln Hills. He defended that decision, saying he had never visited any prison during his six years as governor.

All state prisons are con-

trolled by Walker’s administration, but he said he did not think he would get a true view of Lincoln Hills if he visited it.

“You’re going to see what people want you to see there,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) criticized Walker for declining to visit Lincoln Hills and other institutions.

“There are serious safety concerns at nearly all of our correctional institutions because of staff shortages, pay cuts and low morale,” she said in a statement. “I would encourage Governor Walker to visit Lincoln Hills, talk with the workers there and take a more active leadership role addressing these issues.”

Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, about 30 miles north of Wausau, hold about 165 inmates, most of them from southeastern Wisconsin. The criminal probe that began nearly two years ago is examining prisoner abuse, child neglect, sexual assault, excessive use of pepper spray and other potential crimes.

Walker said he had responded to the host of problems at the facilities by replacing Corrections Secretary Ed Wall with Jon Litscher. As someone who formerly ran the Department of Corrections, Litscher and his team could make multiple visits to address the troubles there and make changes, Walker said.

“Putting someone like that in is the appropriate response, as opposed to going in for a photo op or something like that,” Walker said.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found top officials failed to take action on warnings they received for years about problems at Lincoln Hills. Communication breakdowns, poor training, lax management and chronic staff shortages all contributed to what became a crisis at the youth prison, the investigation found.

Many of the problems emerged after the Walker administration in 2011 quickly closed Ethan Allen School for Boys and Southern Oaks Girls School to save $25 million a year and transferred the inmates to Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake — 215 miles from the homes of most inmates.

“While (closing Ethan Allen School) may have added to it, I don’t think that’s the primary reason that the concerns you’ve reported were raised,” Walker said.

He said Lincoln Hills’ culture was to blame for the problems there. The issues there are now being addressed, he said.

This year, 60 more surveillance cameras have been installed at Lincoln Hills, workers have been equipped with body cameras and training has been greatly expanded.

Milwaukee County officials have proposed building a 36-bed secure facility to limit how many offenders the county sends to Lincoln Hills.

In early December, Walker said he was open to having the state pay some of the costs to build it, but that the county would be responsible for the cost of operating it.

But Walker this week struck a different tone, saying he had not yet seen specifics on the proposal and likely could not include it in the state budget he will introduce in February.

“I think timing-wise, it’s difficult to imagine, being a month and a half or less away from introducing our budget, that there’s anything they could in detail propose now that we could put in the budget,” he said.

He also expressed misgivings about the scope of the proposal.

Counties pay nearly $300 a day to hold each juvenile inmate in state correctional facilities. Most inmates come from Milwaukee County, and removing a large number of them from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake would cause the daily rates for the remaining inmates to dramatically increase. That means the state needs to either stick with its current policy on housing juvenile offenders at Lincoln Hills or shift gears and keep virtually all juvenile inmates at the local level, Walker said.

“This is not an issue you do a pilot on,” he said. “I don’t think you do a hybrid where you have some in Milwaukee County and you have some in Lincoln Hills, at least in terms of the general population.

“It really almost has to be a plan where they have a plan to keep all of their juvenile offenders, not just some.”

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said talks with Walker’s office have been productive. State and county officials will be meeting again soon.

“I think we still have a good working relationship,” Abele said. “They didn’t cancel the meeting. I don’t really take it as a significant change in direction or betrayal. My sense is they’re not ruling anything in or out.”

The county is advocating a change in how juvenile inmates are treated, following a model pioneeredin Missouri and other states.

“You’re going to see what people want you to see there.” GOV. SCOTT WALKER, ON WHY, DESPITE CRITICISM, HE HAS NEVER VISITED LINCOLN HILLS