Milwaukee’s long-awaited new juvenile prison is about 20% complete, according to a spokesperson from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.
The prison will be a Type 1 facility – the most secure type.
The project remains on schedule for completion by summer 2026, a Department of Administration spokesperson said.
Building new juvenile prisons will allow the state to close the troubled Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, where youths reported abuse by staff.
These prisons were originally required to close by Jan. 1, 2021, under Wisconsin Act 185. But securing funding and site approval for new prisons – including Milwaukee’s – has pushed the closures years behind this deadline.
“It is our administration’s goal to get youth closer to home as soon as we safely and responsibly can,” said Britt Cudaback, communications director for the office of Gov. Tony Evers, in an email.
Instead of being incarcerated at Lincoln Hills in Irma – more than a three-hour drive from Milwaukee – these boys will eventually be held where they can remain connected to their families and communities.
The prison, being built on the city’s Northwest Side at 7930 W. Clinton Ave., will house up to 32 boys. It will include educational, vocational, counseling and recreational spaces, according to project documents submitted to the Wisconsin State Building Commission in summer 2023.
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