Millions of dollars approved for another juvenile correctional facility. What does this mean for Milwaukee youths? | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Devin Blake
September 29, 2023
During the budget process this summer, the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance passed a motion that included $6 million for a new Type 1 juvenile correctional facility – one that’s different from what has been planned for Milwaukee.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers approved the money for the facility’s “project planning, development, design, site selection and land and property acquisition,” according to the enacted budget.
Although there is acknowledgment that youths who run afoul of the law need more modern facilities, leaders disagree about whether incarceration is where the state should be spending taxpayer money.
Currently, Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls is the only Type 1 juvenile correctional facility operated by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, or DOC. A Type 1 facility, in contrast to a Type 2 one, has elevated security measures like fences.
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Here are some things to know.
In a 2017 lawsuit, youths at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake described unlawful use of solitary confinement, mechanical restraints, pepper spray and strip searches. The 2017 Wisconsin Act 185, enacted in March 2018, called for the closure of the facility.
In an August news release, Evers stated that the new DOC facility is intended for Dane County.
This facility would be in addition to the one moving forward in Milwaukee, which is located at 7930 W. Clinton Ave.
Although not unanimously embraced, there has been local support for a facility in Milwaukee. One reason for this support is because of the proportion of incarcerated youths from the area.
As of September, there were 57 youths incarcerated at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake – 31 of whom are from Milwaukee County, or roughly 54%, according to data provided by the DOC.
A facility in Milwaukee, it is argued, would be far less disruptive to the lives of these Milwaukee-based youths.
“The moving of the facility is a gesture towards more continuity with community,” said Kate Burdick, senior attorney at Juvenile Law Center and one of the attorneys who represented the youths in the 2017 lawsuit against Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.
“The hope is that they (incarcerated youth) would be in a setting that facilitates greater continuity with education and greater family involvement,” she said.
In January, the City of Milwaukee Common Council voted to rezone the property at West Clinton Ave. – an old vehicle emissions inspection center – with Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s approval following shortly after. The rezoning needed to take place before construction could begin.
Then in August, Evers announced that another step toward building the facility had been taken by the Wisconsin State Building Commission, which approved money for the construction.
Evers’ news release expressed support for both the Milwaukee County and Dane County facilities, stating that they are part of an overall strategy for the youth justice system.
“These facilities will enable more youth to be located closer to their homes and move the state forward in being able to close the outdated Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls located outside Irma,” he said.
“The focus on smaller juvenile correctional facilities over larger conventional facilities will foster increased family engagement, interaction with mentors and access to treatment programs, providing a more supportive environment for youth rehabilitation.”
There is no code stating Milwaukee youths will be placed in the Milwaukee facility, but “the clear intent of Act 185 was to give priority to Milwaukee youth. That’s what will be done,” Kevin Hoffman, deputy director of communications at the DOC, said in an email.
As funding moves forward for these two new juvenile facilities, local efforts also are focusing on reducing incarceration.
For example, the county’s Children, Youth & Family Services, part of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, has expanded the Credible Messenger program.
This is a mentoring program intended to prevent kids from getting into the youth justice system and to provide intervention for those who are involved.
Children, Youth & Family Services also is participating in a grant program, along with Milwaukee Turners and the Public Welfare Foundation, called the Zero Youth Corrections, Youth Opportunity Grant.
The grant awards money to organizations doing work intended to prevent young people from becoming impacted by the criminal legal system, said Emilio De Torre, executive director of Milwaukee Turners.
Milwaukee Turners and the Public Welfare Foundation work on issues relating to mass incarceration locally and nationally, respectively.
“We spend so much in punishing people and so little in front-end navigation,” De Torre said.
The budget states that from July 1 to June 30, 2024, the daily cost to counties per person at a Type 1 juvenile correctional facility is $1,246, which amounts to $454,790 per person per year.
State Sen. Joan Ballweg, a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, said in an email that she is in favor of the $6 million for a second facility because it will expand on the legislature’s commitment to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.
But De Torre said he thinks such reasoning is an excuse to push forward the development of both facilities. Opportunities to come up with solutions that do not include building more prisons should be pursued much more vigorously, he said.
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Devin Blake is the criminal justice reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. His position is funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, which plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.