Here & Now

Sen. Lena Taylor Weighs In On Lincoln Hills Closure

Frederica Freyberg:

In our first look tonight, Governor Scott Walker has announced plans to close Wisconsin's current juvenile correctional facilities and open regional facilities instead. Late this week, the governor said he would close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, establish five regional juvenile facilities across Wisconsin, make the juvenile prison an adult medium security institution and expand treatment services at Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center. The cost of building the new facilities would be roughly $80 million according to the governor’s office. This plan has been met with praise and criticism. Milwaukee’s State Senator Democrat Lena Taylor weighs in now with her reaction. Thanks very much for being here.

Lena Taylor:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is your response to the governor’s call to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake?

Lena Taylor:

I mean, very candidly, it’s a day late and a dollar short. The governor had an opportunity to do something in his budget that shows that he wanted to prioritize stopping inhumane treatment of young people. He did not. He did not even bring us up to the minimum standards of what we needed to do. And a day — you know, a day late because the governor has known since at least 2012, I believe it was that the judge gave a letter to the governor telling him that there was a problem in the juvenile facilities. So, you know, am I glad that the governor realizes that he has messed up and his administration has badly managed the criminal justice system especially for juveniles? I am.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, Milwaukee Democratic State Representative Evan Goyke is commending this move, calling it exciting progress in reforming Wisconsin’s correction system, and during a recent presentation introduced a bill which he says first produced many of the changes moving forward now. So certainly some people, including Democrats, are applauding this move. What about that?

Lena Taylor:

I think it really is not something that we should applaud. First of all, we’re going to do something. Why are we putting off today — putting it off to tomorrow what we can do today? And so I don’t find it exciting when we’re not addressing the issue that needs to be done right away, which is to give Milwaukee County authority in order to be able to have an institution that they can have there in Milwaukee County. And why must it be somewhere else other than Milwaukee County for the youth to be cared for? So if we were dealing with the issue immediately, I could give praise, Frederica. But that’s not what we’re doing. We’re putting it off until 2019 and we’re doing nothing right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I understand that the governor has said that he is open to moving that date up. So that’s something, perhaps, of some compromise that you can look to.

Lena Taylor:

That is possible, as well as the governor said he may close Lincoln Hills if you look at his press release completely. He does not say I shall. And then even more importantly, I think we need to do something immediately. Right now there are children there and they’re being harmed. And the conditions are such that individuals who are working, who are correctional officers, are not well-trained. They’re working hours that are unreasonable. It’s an unsafe environment for both workers and I would argue for individuals there.

Frederica Freyberg:

But if you were to immediately close these juvenile institutions, what would your answer — where would they go immediately?

Lena Taylor:

So the first thing I'm saying is not even necessarily a shutdown today immediately, but I'm saying you have to start with giving the county that most of the juveniles come from to at least have authority to be able to build the kind of facility that they need to house their young people. They’ve asked for it. Why can County Executive Abele’s request to be able to do that not be honored?

Frederica Freyberg:

Getting into that piece a little bit, we have not very much time left unfortunately but these five regional juvenile institutions that are proposed in this plan.

Lena Taylor:

Yes. Those five. Milwaukee could be one, but we still would have to have the authority to do that, of which the county executive has asked for since at least 2016 and has not gotten a response from the governor. I put it in a motion in the budget and it was not done. I do like the concept. This is the same thing that Representative Tamara Grigsby and I asked for years ago during the Finance Committee when we first said also that we should consider putting the juvenile facility back in DHS or in DCF. So I believe that there are some things the governor could do right away to begin to address the issue. I don’t believe putting it off to 2019 is something he should be applauded for. I think he could give Milwaukee County authority and most importantly he could do training and staffing to be able to help.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We need to leave it there. Senator Lena Taylor, thanks very much for joining us on this.

Lena Taylor:

Thank you for having me.