Teen prison put on lockdown

MADISON - Wisconsin’s troubled Northwoods juvenile prison was put on lockdown Tuesday so a top-tobottom search could be conducted using workers from adult institutions.

The lockdown came about a week after a pair of incidents sent five prison workers to the hospital and staff began to say they feared a riot could erupt at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls.

Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said there were no signs of anyone planning a riot. The search is meant to turn up any weapons or other contraband, he said.

“This is a very comprehensive search,” Cook said. “This is something that we think really helps to reassure staff.”

Staff from adult prisons and the department’s incident management team are assisting with the search, according to Cook. Also involved are workers who are being trained to work at Lincoln Hills and adult facil-

ities, he said.

Cook did not say how long the search would last. But Doug Curtis, a union official and former Lincoln Hills officer, posted on Facebook that the lockdown would go on for two days. He wrote that the emergency response unit from Stanley Correctional Institution was assisting with it.

Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. They have been under a criminal investigation for nearly three years for inmate abuse and child neglect.

Separately, inmates have sued over conditions at the prison. As part of that lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James Peterson this summer ordered the prison to curb its use of pepper spray, solitary confinement and restraints.

Prison officials have told the judge they have had difficulty fully complying with his order because of unrest at the prison. Many workers say conditions have worsened since the injunction was issued and they now feel unsafe.

The injunction was put in place at the request of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center.

“We are concerned about the safety of the youth and staff at (Lincoln Hills), but, whatever the security issues are, they can’t be an excuse for violating the constitutional rights of the youth to humane and constitutionally required treatment, including the protections of the preliminary injunction,” the center’s deputy director, Marsha Levick, said in a statement.

The lockdown and search is the first major step taken by John Paquin since he became interim superintendent of the facility last week. Paquin is also the state administrator for juvenile corrections and he is temporarily serving as the superintendent while the state finds a replacement for Wendy Peterson, who stepped down as the prison’s leader in September to take a lower-ranking job.

The prison’s campus consists of a dozen dormitories. When a dormitory search is completed, inmates there will be allowed to leave their rooms and go into the day room and rooms where they can receive schooling, Cook said.

Visits to the prison are suspended for now, but inmates can still get services from the medical and psychological units, Cook said.

Also Tuesday, an attorney for the state wrote in a court filing that prison officials were taking steps to give inmates more treatment and structured activities — including basketball tournaments and crafts — to keep them busy and engaged. Prison officials plan to hire a recreation leader and workers are giving candy or other incentives to inmates when they act appropriately.

Staff are receiving more training on de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention and adolescent development, wrote the attorney, Sam Hall.

Lincoln Hills is also putting together a crisis response team and has recently established calming rooms that inmates can use for “reflection (and) problem resolution,” he wrote.

Prison officials are starting to see a decline in some disruptive behavior that in the past led to the use of pepper spray, Hall wrote.

For instance, inmates are not covering windows and cameras while in solitary confinement as much as they used to.

Hall attributed that change in behavior to the state using solitary confinement less often and giving inmates more structured time.