State funding issues kept youth charged in fatal beating at Lincoln Hills

I'm Steve Martinez and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning.

Temperatures should rise to the mid-70s Tuesday with chances for a couple of rain showers and a thunderstorm. It'll be breezy with partly cloudy skies. Forecasts call for sun and mid-80s on Wednesday.

Youth charged in fatal beating at Lincoln Hills was supposed to be housed in a different facility

The youth charged in the fatal beating of a guard at Wisconsin's embattled prison for troubled youth was supposed to be housed in a different facility but could not be moved because Republican lawmakers have withheld funding that would have facilitated the transfer, writes reporter Laura Schulte.

Republicans who control the state Legislature have refused to releasefunding to expand the number of beds at a state facility for teen offenders with serious mental health needs and haven't voted to codify rules governing how state officials handle teen inmates they are required by a federal judge to use.

The inaction has pushed off a plan written six years ago to close Lincoln Hills School for Boys that was supported by the same Republican lawmakers who are now holding up its execution.

"Every step of the way, our administration has faced near-constant obstruction and inaction from Republican lawmakers who’ve consistently and repeatedly delayed or refused to approve the investments, policy changes, and rules necessary to make closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake possible," said Britt Cudaback, spokeswoman for Gov. Tony Evers.

In a statement last week, the co-chairs of the state legislature's Joint Finance Committee, Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said the funding wasn't granted because there were other open positions the facility had not yet filled.

The Lincoln Hills School for Boys, and the attached Copper Lake School for Girls, have long been known to have serious problems impacting both the youth incarcerated there and the staff responsible for them.

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Steve Martinez can be reached at steve.martinez@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @stjmartinez.

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