Supervisors Question Jail Leaders Following Audit

Milwaukee County Jail. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO) is already making changes following an independent audit of the county jail, leaders told county supervisors Monday.

During a hearing on the audit report, released less than two weeks ago, Milwaukee County supervisors questioned MCSO leadership about some of the audit’s findings related to the jail’s unsafe suicide watch practices, lack of training and overall unsanitary conditions. They learned the report’s release prompted the sheriff’s office to take action on some of the issues it raised.

Texas-based Creative Corrections LLC conducted the audit and its report, released in November, highlighted a number of issues in the jail including unsafe policies for suicide watch and prevention. The audit was commissioned by the board following six deaths that occurred in the jail, or in MCSO custody, in recent years and repeated calls for transparency from advocates and family members of persons who have died in the jail.

A primary goal of the audit was examination of the jail’s suicide policies. The auditors report outlines a “deeply alarming” practice of handcuffing suicidal occupants to benches in the booking room for hours at a time, overusing suicide watch, inadequate suicide prevention training and deficient suicide watch facilities.

Sup. Jack Eckblad, chair of the Audit Committee, asked Sheriff Denita Ball what she thought were most urgent to address. Ball brought up Jail Commander Joshua Briggs, who addressed the committee, saying jail staff would tackle issues in the report directly related to “life and wellness” first, like the issues with suicide watch and prevention.

In the jail, any staff member can place an occupant on suicide watch without an evaluation by a mental health clinician. Stephen Spaulding, CEO of Creative Corrections, told supervisors such a policy is necessary because staff need to be able to protect occupants whether a clinician is available or not. However, once on suicide watch the jail’s health care provider Wellpath requires a 24-hour stay regardless of a clinician’s assessment.

Sup. Caroline Gómez-Tom raised this issue and asked if anything could be done. Sarah McKnight, mental health director at the jail, said the issue was raised with WellPath corporate leadership and that the policy was changed, effective the day of the committee meeting. Now, occupants can be removed from suicide watch before 24 hours based on the recommendation of a clinician.

Eckblad raised another suicide prevention issue found by the audit: that corrections staff and mental health staff were not discussing recent suicide attempts during weekly operations meetings. Briggs responded saying that breakdown in communication has been “resolved” during the weekly operational meetings.

The auditors raised significant concerns about the jail’s policy of handcuffing suicidal occupants to benches in the booking area, sometimes for more than eight hours at a time. The jail has been doing this since 2018, the MCSO told Urban Milwaukee following the release of the audit.

The practice is both a suicide risk, as one occupant was observed attempting to commit suicide while cuffed to the bench, and a safety risk. Someone cuffed to the bench could be vulnerable to attack by other occupants, Spaulding explained. Creative Corrections suggested the jail should utilize “portable containment cells” of roughly two feet by three feet in situations when a person cannot immediately be placed in a suicide watch cell.

Sup. Sky Capriolo questioned whether such a confined space would be appropriate for someone experiencing a mental health crisis, given that it could trigger feelings of claustrophobia. She asked Spaulding how long someone could remain in a two foot by three foot cell. Spaulding said it would be up to the jail, adding, “I would think, an hour or less if you have a mental health professional in the building.”

Capriolo also asked Commander Briggs whether it was true that corrections officers are sent to work in the jail before receiving comprehensive training for dealing with mental health issues or in de-escalation as the audit suggested. Briggs confirmed that is the case.

The sheriff’s office has struggled with chronic understaffing and employee attrition. The agency began moving new corrections officers through a shortened training process to improve staffing levels.

Currently corrections officers receive an expedited training that puts them on the job before completing the full Law Enforcement Standards Board (LESB) training, Sheriff Ball explained. Instead of the full six week academy, they get eight days of training and then on-the-job training, Briggs said. The on-the-job training continues for six to eight months before the officers complete the full LESB training, he said.

Following the audit, the MCSO has added some additional suicide prevention training to the expedited training course, Briggs said.

Unsanitary living conditions and major maintenance needs were also spotlighted by the report. Auditors found excessive graffiti and dirty showers and toilets; as well as suicide watch cells with poor lighting and windows. Ball said the MCSO plans to transfer occupants to the county’s Community Reintegration Center to allow for maintenance to be done at the jail.

Following the release of the audit report, Creative Corrections will continue to work with the MCSO to ensure a plan for fixing some of the problems in the report. It’s expected that a final report will be produced by late spring outlining what corrective actions and policies have been implemented, according to Jennifer Folliard, director of audits in the Office of the Comptroller.

Eckblad asked Ball how confident she was that the jail can operate today with “zero preventable deaths.”

“We have been working hard to improve the areas of concern,” Ball said, adding that there has not been a death in the jail since 2023.

“We’re confident that as we continue to move forward, doing the things that we’re doing, taking the information that is provided by the audit, that we will continue to see improvement,” Ball said.