Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Republican lawmakers are at odds over a settlement resolution that has ordered changes at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, juvenile correctional facilities in Irma, Wisconsin.

In 2018, the state of Wisconsin completed JJ vs Litschera class action lawsuit against Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin, the Juvenile Law Center, and Quarles & Brady. The lawsuit was filed because of “cruel conditions the children were subjected to there, including painful pepper spray, prolonged solitary confinement, humiliating strip searches, and oppressive arm and leg shackles,” according to the ACLU. has said. The result of the settlement was an agreement that required changes.

Evers said his government partially complies with all points of the settlement decision and essentially adheres to 43 of 50 points.

After the death of youth counselor Cory Proulx in an attack in Lincoln Hills and Testimony about employee safety concerns at a Senate hearingRepublican lawmakers called on Attorney General-designate Jared Hoy to ask U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson to review and revise the settlement order and the requirements for a permanent restraining order. The letter bore the signatures of Republican members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary and Security Committee.

In their letter In a statement to Hoy on Aug. 8, lawmakers said Lincoln Hills has become less safe since the settlement order went into effect. They said no one wants to return to the conditions at Lincoln Hills that necessitated the settlement order, but said, “It appears we may have reached the point where attempting to fully comply with the settlement order will do more harm than good.”

They said the settlement decision “severely limits the resources available to Lincoln Hills staff to ensure their own safety and the safety of the facility’s inmates.”

In an Aug. 14 letter to Peterson, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers argued for the settlement not to be revisited and revised. He said the settlement exists because “conditions at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake under the Walker-Kleefisch administration were inhumane and unlawful.” Evers said the settlement increases safety for the youth and contributes to the safety of staff.

“As you know from the Monitor’s reports over the past five years, our administration has made important progress at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools – progress that I am incredibly proud of, especially given the condition of these facilities when I took office,” Evers wrote.

Scott Kelly, a staff member for Senator Van Wanggaard, chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, said Evers was “trying to cover up his administration’s mismanagement of Lincoln Hills by shifting the blame onto (former) Governor Walker.”

Employees describe attacks and security concerns at hearings in Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake

“As a result, Governor Evers is reaffirming a policy that clearly makes Lincoln Hills less safe for inmates and staff,” Kelly said in an email response to a request for comment on Evers’ letter.

In a statement, the ACLU of Wisconsin and the Juvenile Law Center said the settlement decision must be fully implemented to ensure the safety of staff and juveniles at Lincoln Hills. In the long term, they said, “it is clear that Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake must be closed.” David Gwidt, deputy communications director for the ACLU of Wisconsin, sent the Examiner the statement on behalf of the organizations.

“The death of Lincoln Hills counselor Corey Proulx is a terrible tragedy,” the organizations said. “Any loss of life at Lincoln Hills — whether a staff member or a child incarcerated there — is heartbreaking, and everyone at the facility has a right to be safe. But rolling back reforms at Wisconsin’s youth prisons will not make them safer.”