Bill Introduced Following Juvenile Law Center, ACLU of Wisconsin Class Action Civil Rights Lawsuit on Behalf of Youth 

Today the Wisconsin State Assembly introduced bipartisan legislation in the Wisconsin state house to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, two controversial and beleaguered youth correctional facilities. The move comes after years of federal and state investigations into the facilities, and a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center, with pro-bono assistance from Quarles & Brady. The suit successfully resulted in a preliminary injunction this past summer meant to halt the unconstitutional use of solitary confinement and other inhumane conditions and practices against young people.  

“Closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake is the right move,” said Jessica Feierman, Associate Director of Juvenile Law Center. “However, we urge the legislature to cap the total number of secure beds in the state, and to ensure that any new facilities are small, in keeping with best practices in the field. The goal here shouldn’t be to incarcerate more youth, but rather to move youth out of large facilities where they are at risk of serious harm, and either back to their own homes or into the most family-like setting possible.”

“The legislation also establishes a Council on Juvenile Corrections and a Juvenile Grant Committee. These bodies should include system-involved youth and their families,” said Feierman. “Youth and families bring valuable insights into the needs of youth and the approaches that will work.”

Larry Dupuis, Legal Director at the ACLU of Wisconsin, said, “While we agree these facilities must be closed as soon as possible, the legislation raises concerns. Bringing youth closer to home is important, but it won’t work without meaningful state-level oversight and accountability. The risk here is that the state will replicate the mistreatment in Lincoln Hills at the new county-level facilities.”

Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake currently incarcerate about 150 children, some as young as 14 years old. Prior to the injunction, 15 to 20% percent of the youths were confined at any given time in solitary confinement cells for 22 or 23 hours a day. On top of that, guards kept many of these children in handcuffs attached to a belt around their waists, and shackled to a table or desk, during the hour or two they are allowed out of their cells. Guards throughout Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake also regularly used pepper spray on the youth, causing pain and burning while impairing their breathing and overall health.

Juvenile Law Center and ACLU of Wisconsin’s complaint asserted that these practices violated children’s constitutional rights, including their rights to substantive due process, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Today the Wisconsin State Assembly introduced bipartisan legislation in the Wisconsin state house to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, two controversial and beleaguered youth correctional facilities. The move comes after years of federal and state investigations into the facilities, and a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center, with pro-bono assistance from Quarles & Brady. The suit successfully resulted in a preliminary injunction this past summer meant to halt the unconstitutional use of solitary confinement and other inhumane conditions and practices against young people.  

“Closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake is the right move,” said Jessica Feierman, Associate Director of Juvenile Law Center. “However, we urge the legislature to cap the total number of secure beds in the state, and to ensure that any new facilities are small, in keeping with best practices in the field. The goal here shouldn’t be to incarcerate more youth, but rather to move youth out of large facilities where they are at risk of serious harm, and either back to their own homes or into the most family-like setting possible.”

“The legislation also establishes a Council on Juvenile Corrections and a Juvenile Grant Committee. These bodies should include system-involved youth and their families,” said Feierman. “Youth and families bring valuable insights into the needs of youth and the approaches that will work.”

Larry Dupuis, Legal Director at the ACLU of Wisconsin, said, “While we agree these facilities must be closed as soon as possible, the legislation raises concerns. Bringing youth closer to home is important, but it won’t work without meaningful state-level oversight and accountability. The risk here is that the state will replicate the mistreatment in Lincoln Hills at the new county-level facilities.”

Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake currently incarcerate about 150 children, some as young as 14 years old. Prior to the injunction, 15 to 20% percent of the youths were confined at any given time in solitary confinement cells for 22 or 23 hours a day. On top of that, guards kept many of these children in handcuffs attached to a belt around their waists, and shackled to a table or desk, during the hour or two they are allowed out of their cells. Guards throughout Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake also regularly used pepper spray on the youth, causing pain and burning while impairing their breathing and overall health.

Juvenile Law Center and ACLU of Wisconsin’s complaint asserted that these practices violated children’s constitutional rights, including their rights to substantive due process, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In a letter to the city’s legal department, the ACLU of Wisconsin said the city acted improperly and suppressed constitutionally-protected speech when it ordered resident Dennis Lawrence to remove his yard sign promoting the impeachment of the President.

“Like all Americans, Mr. Lawrence has a right to express his political views without interference or intimidation by the government,” said Chris Ott, Executive Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin. “We are pleased that the city has agreed to stop interfering with Mr. Lawrence’s ability to exercise his right to free speech in his own home and will amend its sign.”

Even though Mr. Lawrence’s sign was on his private property, he was nonetheless ordered by the city to remove his sign.  The ACLU of Wisconsin noted in a letter that the ordinance did not apply, and even if it did, it would be an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech by attempting to suppress the displays of political signs on private property.

“Political speech, receives the highest degree of First Amendment protection,” said ACLU of Wisconsin staff attorney Asma Kadri. “The city’s ordinance singled out political and campaign signs and applied restrictions to those signs that don’t apply to other kinds of signs. We are encouraged that La Crosse is revisiting its unconstitutional ordinance and hope their new laws protect the right to free speech.”

 A copy of the letter is available below.

By Sandra Gokee

Traditionally families here would share their feelings around the kitchen table. Today, I’m able to share with a wider community online. A few days after Jason’s death, I channeled my grief and anger into a post on my personal Facebook page, where I go by a different name than the one I use at work. I said I believed Jason had been murdered, and that the epidemic of police violence against Native American communities needed to stop.

The post went viral, and I heard from Native Americans around the country about their experiences with the police – and the legacy of ethnic cleansing, forced removal, and genocide that shapes the Native American experience to this day. Today, Native American people are three times more likely to be killed by police than whites and at a rate 12% higher than African Americans.

I had hoped this tragedy would lead to an honest dialogue between members of our tribes and the predominantly white power structure in Ashland. Instead, Ashland School District administrators put me on administrative leave and asked me to resign from my job teaching the Ojibwe language.

School administrators reprimanded me for “creating” racial tension – as if my expressions of grief and anger about the death of my cousin were to blame for the divisions in our community. They said I had violated school policies. But I wasn’t giving up the job I loved without a fight.

For years it was illegal for our tribes to teach our own language. Young people were shipped to boarding schools and even beaten if they spoke their native tongue. My dad was a language and culture teacher, and before he got sick I decided that I wanted to carry on that legacy and do my part to keep the Ojibwe language alive.

That’s why I fought back, and thanks to the ACLU of Wisconsin I’ll be able to return to the classroom in January. I want our tribes to be able to grieve, and I want to help heal the divisions that have riven the Ashland community for far too long. Silencing and retaliating against members of our community – and suppressing our constitutionally-protected right to free speech – will only exacerbate these tensions.

This is where we say ‘no more.’ This is where we come together and confront issues of injustice, discrimination, and police violence – openly and honestly. Together we can get back on a path of healing and reconciliation and build a future of greater trust, safety and understanding for all citizens.