Wisconsin’s Evers urges federal judge not to make changes at youth prison in wake of counselor death
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Tony Evers asked a federal judge Wednesday not to make changes to Wisconsin’s juvenile detention center after an inmate was accused of murdering a counselor during a fight earlier this summer, stressing that prison conditions were slowly improving despite the deaths.
Evers, a Democrat, said in the letter to James Peterson, chief judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, that Republican lawmakers could soon ask him to give Lincoln Hills-Copper Lakes Schools more latitude in disciplining incarcerated children. The governor said it was important to remember that brutal punishments by staff on inmates have led to tighter restrictions on what staff can do.
Lincoln Hills-Copper Lake is Wisconsin’s only juvenile detention center. The facility has been plagued by allegations of staff abuse by inmates, including excessive use of pepper spray, restraints and frisking.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in Madison in 2017 seeking changes to the prison. Then-Governor Scott Walker’s administration settled the lawsuit in 2018 by agreeing to a consent decree that bans criminal confinement, limits confinement to 12 hours, limits the use of mechanical restraints to handcuffs and bans the use of pepper spray. A court-appointed monitor has been monitoring the prison’s compliance ever since.
Prosecutors say a 16-year-old boy attacked a counselor on June 24, punching her and fleeing into a courtyard. Counselor Corey Proulx confronted him, and the boy punched him in the face. Proulx fell and hit his head on the concrete sidewalk. He was declared brain dead two days later.
His death has prompted Lincoln Hills-Copper Lake staff to demand more freedom in dealing with inmates. Republican lawmakers sympathetic to their demands have talked about asking Peterson to revise the consent decree to give them more freedom, including the use of pepper spray. Sen. Van Wanggaard, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, published a letter to Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy on Wednesday, signed by a large number of GOP lawmakers, demanding that he ask Peterson for changes.
“The Lincoln Hills staff must remove themselves from the burden of the fire so they can safely and efficiently ensure the safety and well-being of themselves and the residents of Lincoln Hills,” the letter said.
Asked whether Hoy would comply, Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback released Evers’ letter to Peterson. The letter was dated Wednesday, but Cudaback said the administration had been working on it before receiving the Republicans’ request.
Evers reminded Peterson in the letter of the abuses that led to the consent decree in the first place and said Republicans refuse to acknowledge that history. The governor added that he doubts the ACLU would support any change.
He then addressed changes in the juvenile detention center, saying that staff-inmate relations have improved and that Hoy received a letter last week from the president of the Council of Juvenile Justice Advocates recognizing Wisconsin as an emerging leader in prison reform.
Evers added that since Proulx’s death, the facility has worked to increase its staff-to-inmate ratio, working overtime when necessary. Supervisors regularly ask staff about their comfort levels, especially when staffing levels are low, he said.
He plans to visit the prison later this month, where Hoy has worked at least one day a week since Proulx’s death, the governor wrote.
Emily Stedman, one of the lead attorneys for the ACLU in the 2017 lawsuit, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the governor’s letter.
Scott Kelly, Wanggaard’s adviser, said in a text message to The Associated Press Wednesday night that Evers was not open to balance and change, but instead stuck with the policies that created the dangerous conditions at the prison.