Conditions improve, but fears remain at teen prison
Report is first with zero non-compliance ratings
MADISON - Staff at the state’s youth prison in recent months have reported fearing for their safety while nearly half of the teen inmates in their care say they have been beaten up or threatened.
But a new report revealing lingering safety concerns also shows conditions at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls are improving in other ways.
Staff are no longer using pepper spray to manage the teenagers’ behavior — a top goal of a federal order mandating changes at the prison — and a new work shift has staff feeling healthier on the job.
“DOC is pleased the Monitor continues to report progress on our goals at Lincoln Hills. This is the first report where we have zero non-compliance ratings,” DOC spokeswoman Anna Neal said about the latest review of conditions at the prison ordered by a federal court. “While there is always more work to be done, we are pleased with the progress our team has made over the past 14 months.”
A federal judge in 2017 ordered the state Department of Corrections to overhaul the youth prison, including how its staff manages behavior after dozens of current and former inmates filed a lawsuit alleging the department’s practices were physically and emotionally abusive.
As part of the overhaul, the federal judge required a periodic review of whether staff there are complying with the order’s standards.
In the latest report, the prison for the first time was rated by monitor Teresa Abreu as at least partially complying with 50 court-ordered changes — including reducing or eliminating the use of isolation, restraints and pepper spray to manage the inmates there.
Neal said as of September, there is no pepper spray on the prison’s grounds — a stark difference from 2017 when the spray was used 100 times in six months.
But recent surveys of staff and inmates included in the review also shows continued fears of a dangerous environment that propelled lawmakers in 2018 to vote to close the prison.
In October, following the last courtordered visit by Abreu, 79% of staff said they feared for their safety and 83% of staff said they believe the facility is unsafe or very dangerous. The same percentage said they didn’t believe they had the authority to properly discipline the young offenders.
Around that time, 26 inmates were involved in five incidents over two days that resulted in guards being choked and suffering nose, knee and shoulder injuries.
Following the release of Abreu’s October report, which showed “vast
improvement,” prison staff said the report did not accurately reflect the environment at the prison, which they described as out of control.
Neal said the October survey was taken at a “very difficult time” at the prison and that a more recent survey in January shows a significantly better climate among staff.
The January survey showed 77% of staff felt improved health and safety since switching to 12-hour shifts, instead of back-to-back eight-hour workdays, and that 78% of staff agreed job satisfaction has improved for themselves and their co-workers.
“Having said that, on-going training is being provided, including the introduction of (de-escalation training) in March 2020,” she said. “In addition, some staff will be attending gangrelated training,” which staff wanted.
Many young offenders also reported a dangerous environment and more than half said they hadn’t been yet visited by a family member.
Forty-four percent of the inmates feared for their safety, while the same percentage said they didn’t. Abreu said in the report these feelings have steadily improved over the previous two surveys.
“The rate still remains higher than the national field average but is improving,” she wrote.
Forty-eight percent of inmates reported being beaten up or threatened in the last six months, while 39% said they hadn’t faced threats and violence, according to the survey.
Overall conditions appeared to have improved by the next month.
During Abreu’s February visit, however, “the majority of staff seem relatively energetic and happy,” she wrote.
“Many of the veteran staff stated that they believed the facility is making good progress, they are beginning to feel safer and things are improving,” she wrote.”The new staff really liked their job and said it was better than they thought it would be.”
Abreu also said she observed staff and youth interacting properly and with positive attitudes.
“The biggest complaint from youth this visit was the food, canteen out of stock items, and being bored,” she wrote.
The improvements in safe practices and mixed feelings about safety come as Republican lawmakers have abandoned plans to close the facility by 2021, a deadline set in a state law they passed to close the prison amid reports of an unsafe environment.
Five counties will receive funding to construct smaller facilities for juvenile offenders as part of the plan to close the facility, but a key component of the plan — building two, smaller state facilities for more serious offenders — is no longer in the works.
Karyn Rotker, an attorney with the ACLU of Wisconsin, which brought the lawsuit that prompted the court-ordered changes, said the latest report from Abreu shows the need for lawmakers and state officials to find a way to close the prison anyway.
“While the lawsuit has certainly achieved some semblance of harm reduction at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, prisons are still no place for children,” Rotker said. “Although conditions may be somewhat better than they once were, these facilities still have a number of problems, and our ultimate goal should be to close them.”