OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Governor Tony Evers announced on Tuesday that one of two new youth prisons set to be built will be in Outagamie County.
The new facility will be built in Hortonia, near New London.
A location near the intersections of highways 15 and 45 in Hortonia was previously identified by the state Juvenile Corrections Study Committee as a potential location for one of the facilities.
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson says he is excited about the opportunity to share their developing expertise with the state.
“Outagamie County is one of not just the state, but a national leader in criminal justice reform particularly in the area of juvenile justice.”
Nelson says Outagamie County is also known for facilities that offer training for positions that can benefit the new youth prison.
“You will have a $35 million dollar state-of-the-art public safety training facility for first responders which is going to be a hub to find people like correction officers.”
Nelson says that facility will only be 35 miles away from the new youth prison.
The Lincoln Hills prison near Irma, which has been the subject of a federal investigation into inmate abuse for four years and the subject of multiple lawsuits, will be replaced by the two youth prisons.
Former-Governor Scott Walker signed a bill to close the Lincoln Hills facility by 2021 and that bill allowed for borrowing up to $25 million for the facilities.
Governor Evers has proposed spending nearly $200 million more on replacement facilities and increasing the age for charging juveniles as adults from 17 to 18 in his two-year state budget.
“We are committed to getting kids out of Lincoln Hills and closer to home as soon as we safely and responsibly can,” Governor Evers says in a news release Tuesday. “Today’s announcements show significant action towards our shared goal of ensuring kids get the education, programming and mental health treatment they need in supportive settings that are closer to their families and communities.”
“Research shows that children in incarceration make significant strides toward positive change when they are closer to their communities and loved ones,” Department of Corrections Secretary-designee Kevin Carr says in a news release. “I look forward to working with the Grant Committee and Wisconsin counties to develop a network of local opportunities to support our youth.”
The state departments of corrections and administration will work with local leaders in Hortonia and Milwaukee to schedule community input-gathering sessions, according to Governor Evers.
Nelson says what they have been doing in Outagamie County has been making a difference.
“For the last ten plus years, we have put together innovative programs like vetererns court, mental health court. We have had great results turning around lives, keeping families together and we are saving money.”
Nelson says one other piece to the puzzle is the upcoming Highway 15 bypass.
“It is going to go right through this new facility and there is going to be more traffic”, Nelson says. “This is all the more reason why we hope the state will move up the Highway 15 bypass on the calendar.
Democratic state Rep. David Crowley is being appointed by Governor Evers as chairman of a committee that will determine which counties receive grants to start construction of other detention facilities to house other youth prison inmates.
