Lawsuit threatens to add to costs of fixing Wisconsin’s youth prison

Fixing the problems at Wisconsin’s youth prison may prove to be an expensive undertaking. Especially now that a class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of current and former inmates at the Lincoln Hill School for Boys. That could cost taxpayers dearly. It didn’t have to be this way. But the fact is, legislators and the administration have largely ignored the many warning signs about the abuses happening inside Wisconsin’s youth prison. It seems little has changed in the past several years when we first started hearing stories about how these juveniles are being treated. Sexual assaults, solitary confinement, pepper spray. In one case, an inmate had to have toes amputated after having his foot slammed in a cell door by a guard. The lawsuit contains more disturbing allegations, like the 14 year old who over 8 months was kept in solitary confinement for all but two weeks. The lawsuit also alleges guards pepper sprayed the young inmates nearly 200 times over a 10 month period. In some instances, the pepper spray was the heavy duty stuff usually reserved for bear attacks. This has been allowed to happen due to lax management, staff shortages, and confusion over policies. Regardless of how this lawsuit comes out, our lawmakers should make it a priority to fix the problems at Lincoln Hills in this legislative session and stop treating our youngest lawbreakers like they are Hannibal Lecter.