News & Commentary

Milwaukee, WI (March 22, 2018) –  The Wisconsin State Legislature passed a bill, which Governor Walker has pledged to sign, to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, two controversial and beleaguered youth correctional facilities, by January 1, 2021.  This move comes after years of federal and state investigations into the facilities and a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center, with pro-bono assistance from Quarles & Brady. The bill requires the state to establish new Type 1 juvenile correctional facilities and authorizes counties to establish secured residential care centers for children and youth.“Closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake is the right move,” said Jessica Feierman, Associate Director of Juvenile Law Center. “Unfortunately, the current legislation also directs too many resources into secure care for young people.  Now the key for all stakeholders – including the study committee created by the Act, the legislature, and the public – will be to ensure that the harsh and unconstitutional practices used at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake are never replicated.”“The best way to do this is to ensure that as many young people as possible are in their own homes receiving any needed services,” said Feierman. “Any youth placed outside the home should be in as family-like settings as possible.  Policies should be guided by evidence about what works and responsive to the input of youth in the juvenile justice system, their families, and their communities.”Children at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake have routinely been placed in solitary confinement, put in mechanical restraints, pepper-sprayed, and strip-searched. Prior to state and federal raids on the facility in December 2015, staff also regularly physically abused youth in the facility, even breaking their arms and legs in some cases. Horrific conditions persisted – approximately 15 to 20% percent the young residents are confined in seven by ten-foot solitary confinement cells for 22 or 23 hours per day. “While this is a step in the right direction, we will continue to pay attention to how young people are treated so long as they remain at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and while they are being moved from the current facilities,” said Larry Dupuis, Legal Director of ACLU of Wisconsin. “Our lawsuit is against the Department of Corrections officials and we will continue to fight to ensure that any resolution of our lawsuit protects the children in the custody of the state.”This bill also creates a Juvenile Corrections Study Committee, which is required to research and develop recommendations for locations of Type 1 facilities, services, and programming for children and youth and DOC’s rules for governing detention centers. The bill requires the committee to submit these recommendations to DOC no later than July 1, 2020.Juvenile Law Center and ACLU of Wisconsin’s complaint asserted that these unconstitutional practices violated children’s constitutional rights, including their rights to substantive due process, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Wisconsin State Assembly proposed a $350 million plan to build a new prison.  The following is a joint statement from the ACLU of Wisconsin, African-American Civic Engagement Roundtable, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), Black Lives Matter to Wisconsin Unitarian Universalists, Dane County's Derail the Jail Coalition, The Demeter Foundation, The Dominican Center, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing), FCAB (Felmers Chaney Advocacy Board), Free The 350 Bail Fund in Dane County, GenderQueer Milwaukee, Grass Roots Northshore, JOSHUA, Kids Forward, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT), Madison Chapter National Lawyers Guild, Madison-area Urban Ministry, MICAH (Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope), Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition, Milwaukee National Lawyers Guild, Milwaukee Turners' Confronting Mass Incarceration, NAACP Milwaukee Branch, National Association of Social Workers – Wisconsin, Operation Welcome Home (OWH), Our Democracy 2020, Our Wisconsin Revolution--Dane County, People's Progressive Organizing Committee, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Priceless Incite, Progressive Baptist Church, Rid Racism Milwaukee, Schools and Communities United, SOPHIA, Uplifting Black Liberation and Community (UBLAC), Wisconsin Council of Churches, Wisconsin Justice Initiative, Wisconsin Network for Peace Justice and Sustainability (WNPJS), Wisconsin Poor People's Campaign, Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition, Wisconsin Unitarian Universalist State Action Network, Wisconsin Voices, WISDOM, and Youth Justice Milwaukee, YWCA of Southeastern Wisconsin, and 9 to 5 Wisconsin reacting to the announcement:

This is what we told all of the legislators who asked us about AB 351 / SB 279 regulating the use of law enforcement body cameras:

Today, Western District Judge Peterson found that the use of solitary confinement, pepper spray and restraints at two juvenile facilities in Wisconsin violate youths’ constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.  The court ordered the parties to propose the terms of a preliminary injunction to end the inhumane conditions and practices within two weeks of today’s order.  The suit was originally filed in January on behalf of youth confined in the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls. Yesterday and today, the ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center, with pro-bono assistance from Quarles & Brady argued in the Western District Court that children incarcerated at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake needed immediate relief while the case was being litigated.

We are witnessing a moment of national attention on policing, from discussions about racial profiling, over-reliance on police to solve social, educational, and public health issues, and widespread examples of excessive uses of force.

Collins et al. v. The City of Milwaukee et al.  

MILWAUKEE- The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin affirms the vital need for transparency in the investigation of the June 23rd shooting of Jay Anderson by a Wauwatosa police officer.  ACLU Executive Director Chris Ahmuty issued the following statement:

Since the beginning of 2015, police in Wisconsin have killed 30 people, according to one media database. In Madison, Neenah, Eau Claire, Wausau, East Troy, Wauwatosa and Milwaukee, officers have used their power to its ultimate extent.