Wisconsin still has work to do at youth prisons | Opinion

"This is the most severe and damaging type of solitary confinement that is used in the American penal system." So wrote federal Judge James Peterson about the conditions at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools in 2017. When he issued this ruling, concerns about child maltreatment had plagued the facilities for years, even sparking an FBI investigation.

Children faced weeks and even months in solitary as a punishment, often only leaving their cell for an hour a day, sometimes chained to a desk. When our team visited the facility and later got access to body cam videos, we witnessed excessive uses of force, teenagers pepper sprayed in hallways and through the doors of their locked cells, and youth shuffling from place to place in chains

Opinion: This is why we need Milwaukee gun owners safety summit

ACLU of Wisconsin, Juvenile Law Center, and Quarles & Brady LLP filed a lawsuit that settled in 2018 when the court ordered a "Consent Decree" — appointing a monitor to oversee the facility and provide regular updates on whether the facilities were doing what they promised.  

Solitary confinement, restraints, strip searches limited

Over the years, we saw slow but tangible progress. Eventually, the facilities eliminated pepper spray — it is no longer even stored on campus. They also dramatically limited the use of solitary confinement, mechanical restraints like handcuffs, and strip searches. In late January of this year, the court dismissed the case after the monitor at last found for a second consecutive time that the facilities were in "substantial compliance" on every measure.

As advocates, we are pleased to see the sweeping changes that came from the lawsuit. But here's the rub: reaching "substantial compliance" does not mean youth at Lincoln Hills are flourishing. The truth is that being away from home and school, locked in a concrete prison, is not an appropriate environment for any child to develop.

Adolescence is the time when kids are figuring out who they really are. They need people who believe in them and prop up their sense of self-worth. They need the space to try things out, make mistakes, and mature. They need safety and care and time to heal from past harm. Lincoln Hills may have reached "substantial compliance," but at the end of the day, these are still children who ask us why they can't talk more often to their moms.

Improvements at Lincoln Hills also don't erase the racist backdrop of how children end up there. Wisconsin incarcerates Black youth at a rate 16 times higher than White youth. Bias infects every aspect of the juvenile legal system from the over-policing of Black and Brown communities to bias in arrest, diversion, detention and incarceration decisions.

State must expedite closing of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake

What must come next?

First, the state must move expedite closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake once and for all.

Second, in the meantime, as the monitor noted in her final report, the state must avoid backsliding and commit to "continuous improvement." Wisconsin has already updated its Administrative Code to include the core provisions from Consent Decree.

Letter: What was President Trump's rush to go to war with Iran?

That should protect young people at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, or at any future similar facility in the state from these harmful practices. We are also heartened that the state committed to continued technical assistance from the monitoring team. This ongoing expert support is essential to avoiding tragic harm to youth and staff. Without the lawsuit in place to ensure progress, however, the state must take full responsibility for the conditions in the facilities.

Third, the state should establish a community advisory board through which impacted families and local organizations can review data, ask questions, share their own advice and expertise —and demand further improvements and accountability. Community members deserve to know how children are being treated and to help oversee these public facilities.

Real solution is to provide communities with resources

Finally, longer term, there needs to be a transformational shift in how the state approaches youth "justice." Moving kids from Lincoln Hills to smaller facilities is just a baby step. The real solution is to provide communities with resources that support teens and avoid incarceration.

Studies show that locking kids up usually makes it more likely they will be rearrested or reincarcerated, compared to kids who were diverted from the system or put into alternative programming. When youth are truly struggling, models like wraparound supports, Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Functional Family Therapy (FFT) , mentoring provided by "credible messengers" and others can help youth heal, build concrete skills, and stay connected with school and positive contacts in their own neighborhoods. Wisconsin should take the $1,268 per day spent to house a child at Lincoln Hills and invest in education, rec centers, libraries, parks and programming that the community actually wants.  

The Lincoln Hills case may be closed, but the work of reimaging a vision for youth justice rooted in humanity remains far from over.

Timothy Muth is a senior staff attorney at ACLU of Wisconsin. Kate Burdick is a senior attorney at Juvenile Law Center. Both were lawyers for plaintiffs in the now-closed lawsuit over conditions at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State must still expedite closing Lincoln Hills, Copper Lake | Opinion