Senate plan to replace teen prison sent to Evers
Bill moves youths out of embattled Lincoln Hills
MADISON - Lawmakers took another step toward changing the way Wisconsin incarcerates teen offenders, moving toward closing a dangerous chapter in state history.
Democrats and Republicans in the state Senate passed a bill that would move teen offenders out of a facility in northern Wisconsin that was plagued with dangerous conditions for most of its life as a youth prison.
The bill heads to Gov. Tony Evers, who is expected to sign it.
The action was the second time this legislative session the Senate has passed a proposal to shutter the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls and the marks the second effort by the Legislature in the last four years to close the facility.
Lawmakers in 2018 unanimously agreed to close the teen prison after years of controversy, allegations of abuse, and more than $25 million in legal fees and payouts to those who stayed there.
But after Evers defeated former Gov. Scott Walker later that year, Republicans who control the Legislature did not follow up with funding for their closure plans and Lincoln Hills has continued to operate.
Assembly lawmakers unanimously passed the new plan to replace the facility and move it to the Milwaukee area while keeping the Lincoln County lockup open for adult inmates.
The state Department of Corrections has considered the Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center as a location for the new teen facility despite opposition from those who argue the current facility plays an important role in helping adults successfully reintegrate into society from prison.
Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, proposed an amendment to the legislation blocking the new facility from being placed there, but it was rejected by the Senate.
The passage of the latest effort to move teens out of the Lincoln Hills prison comes a full decade after a county judge sounded an alarm in former Gov. Scott Walker's office over dangerous conditions in the Irma facility.
The bill makes the $42 million plan to replace the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls subject to the approval of the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance.
The bill also requires the Department of Administration to approve a plan to construct a new facility in Milwaukee County as long as it has a green light from the municipality's officials.
The legislation also requires the Irma facility, north of Wausau, to remain open as a prison for adult offenders.
As of Friday, there were 46 boys at Lincoln Hills and 12 girls at Copper Lake, a companion facility on the same campus.