Gov. Evers, DOC Celebrate Successful Reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today, together with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) and DOC Secretary Jared Hoy, celebrated successful reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, which have reached a significant milestone and a crucial step toward closing the two juvenile corrections facilities and moving youth to new facilities to receive treatment closer to their home communities. After child abuse scandals at the schools under former Gov. Scott Walker’s administration resulted in tens of millions of dollars in legal fees due to youth abuse and maltreatment, the state of Wisconsin was placed under court order requiring dozens of reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and regular visits by a court-approved monitor to review and assess DOC’s progress toward complying with court-ordered requirements. Gov. Evers announced today that the Evers Administration has successfully reached full compliance with all 50 of the court-ordered reforms at the schools—a critical first step toward the schools no longer being under regular court-required monitoring and supervision and, ultimately, for the facilities to be closed and converted to adult institutions.

“Closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and building new youth facilities so we can move kids closer to home safely and responsibly has been a top priority for me and my administration even before I took office as governor. And today is a milestone accomplishment in our work toward turning the page on the troubled history of these institutions and closing them for good,” said Gov. Evers. “This is the culmination of years’ worth of hard work, a consistent commitment to treatment and rehabilitation, and earnest dedication to repairing relationships and rebuilding trust, most especially by the staff at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and DOC leadership. These folks have been doing extraordinary work to implement reforms and improve safety, treatment, and care, and I’m incredibly proud of and grateful for their efforts that led us to today, which must continue in the months ahead.”

“Even as we celebrate the successful reforms we’ve implemented over the last six years, there remains much work to do if we want to finally get every kid out of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake—and this must be a bipartisan priority if we are going to be successful,” Gov. Evers continued. “Eventually converting Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake to an adult facility will require legislative support and approval for the investments, facilities, and projects that are necessary in the meantime, including ensuring swift action and approval to ensure investments and projects remain on schedule. I look forward to building upon today’s success, maintaining full compliance with court requirements, and continuing our work on corrections in the months ahead.”

In 2015, under the Walker Administration, dozens of law enforcement officers raided Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools as part of a criminal probe into claims of abuse and unsafe working conditions that resulted in several lawsuits regarding child abuse and mistreatment. The raid was the culmination of a concerning pattern of reports and complaints over the course of several years. State and federal investigators at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools ultimately found frequent and excessive use of force on kids, excessive use of pepper spray, excessive confinement, failure to intervene in youth-on-youth fights, no investigations into sexual misconduct allegations, sexual abuse of youth, and physical abuse of youth that included broken bones and feet being slammed in doors.

The Walker-era scandal ultimately resulted in the state spending more than $25 million in legal fees and settlement agreements resulting from abuse and maltreatment at the schools. Consequently, the state of Wisconsin was subject to court orders requiring DOC to implement 50 reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, including addressing staff shortages and staffing ratios, eliminating punitive solitary confinement, eliminating the use of pepper spray, limiting use of mechanical restraints, providing enhanced staff training and support, ensuring confined youth have consistent access to basic services and necessities, making and codifying several administrative rule changes, and improving incident review and response efforts, among other requirements. On a quarterly basis since then, a court-approved monitor with expertise in juvenile corrections has visited the facilities, interviewed youth and staff, and ensured compliance with the court-ordered requirements.

When the Walker Administration ended in January 2019, the state was in substantial compliance with just one of the 50 court-ordered requirements. As of the latest report filed by the court-approved monitor today, Oct. 2, 2025, DOC and the Evers Administration have reached compliance with all 50 reforms.

The DOC must continue to maintain substantial compliance over the course of several consecutive monitor reports in order to eventually petition the court to no longer require regular monitoring and supervision. The monitor’s next visit to Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools will occur later this fall.

“We are incredibly grateful for the commitment and hard work from all of the staff at LHS/CLS and our Division of Juvenile Corrections leadership,” said DOC Secretary Jared Hoy. “This is a great achievement in a long journey during which we’ve made tremendous strides in creating a better atmosphere for staff and youth. We are excited to carry this momentum forward as we implement a new model for juvenile corrections in Wisconsin to more effectively rehabilitate the youth in our care.”

During the monitor’s most recent visit to Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, the team conducted 66 interviews with staff and youth. The report notes that youth attitudes were positive, and staff continued to provide an exceptionally clean and safe environment. Staff vacancies for youth counselors (4 percent) and youth counselors-advanced (8 percent) remained low. In addition to praising staff engagement, quality assurance, and improved programming and wellness, the monitor also noted upgrades to the facilities, including extra Wi-Fi in all living units to accommodate the new youth tablets.

“Leadership and staff have demonstrated sustained commitment to improving the conditions and daily experiences of youth and employees,” the monitor wrote. “Over the years, (DOC has) faced significant challenges, yet they have successfully navigated them while achieving meaningful reforms.”

Reaching and maintaining full compliance with the court-approved consent decree is a significant and crucial step toward ultimately closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, but much work nevertheless remains to be able to move all youth from the schools, close the facilities, and proceed as planned with converting the institutions to an adult corrections facility.

As the new Type 1 facility in Milwaukee is expected to open next year, the state will be able to begin moving some youth housed at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools closer to home safely and responsibly, bringing the state another step closer to using the facilities for adult corrections, which will help alleviate staffing and capacity challenges at other adult institutions. However, completely removing youth from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and converting the schools to adult correctional institutions will require more juvenile Type 1 facilities to be online in addition to other programming designed to improve youth treatment, rehabilitation, and successful reentry.

A timeline of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools events, including the implementation of Act 185 and updates on Type 1 facilities projects can be found here on the DOC website. A listing of all court-ordered monitor reports can be found here.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS’ AND EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO CLOSE LINCOLN HILLS AND COPPER LAKE SCHOOLS

Gov. Evers, Secretary Hoy, and the Evers Administration have spent six years working to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to get kids closer to home safely and responsibly while operating under the 2017 Act 185 (Act 185) framework passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Walker in 2018. In the wake of the raid and subsequent allegations, Act 185 called for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake to be closed as a youth facility and to build new, smaller, regional facilities to replace the schools, ensuring youth can receive treatment closer to their homes and their family and community supports.

Gov. Evers has long supported efforts to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, including during his time as state superintendent, and has spent most of his tenure as governor working to reform the state’s juvenile and adult justice systems. The governor has proposed measures to make sweeping changes to Wisconsin’s corrections landscape in his 2019-21, 2021-23, 2023-25, and 2025-27 Executive and Capital Budgets, the vast majority of which were rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

In

April 2022, Gov. Evers signed Senate Bill 520, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 252, which furthered the eventual closure of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools after Act 185’s enactment by authorizing up to $41.7 million in bonding for the purpose of constructing a new Type 1 juvenile facility in Milwaukee County. Additionally, the bipartisan 2025-27 state budget included $130.7 million to construct an additional Type 1 facility in Dane County but, unfortunately, did not approve funding for the northern Type 1 and approved only $1.5 million of the $3.1 million Gov. Evers requested to plan a Grow Academy expansion, which is also a critical piece of the plan to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.