HORTONIA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – One local proposed location to replace the troubled Lincoln Hills juvenile prison was rejected Wednesday, but another moved closer to reality.
The state’s current youth prisons, Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, are set to close in July 2021 – although it’s unlikely that deadline will be met.
The state proposed two locations for new facilities to house the most troubled offenders, one in Milwaukee, and one in Hortonia, near New London. Both were rejected Wednesday by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee.
The Hortonia site proposal met with opposition from many area residents.
State Sen. Rob Cowles praised the committee’s move.
“From the day that Governor Evers and his Department of Corrections abruptly announced that Hortonia will house a Type 1 Serious Juvenile Offender Facility without the prior notification or acknowledgement of local citizens or elected officials, I have tirelessly advocated as a conduit for the constituents in my district to ensure their opposition to this location was heard. I shared the concerns of these residents with members of the Joint Finance Committee, and I applaud them for listening and choosing to vote to reject this site. In doing so, JFC members stood with the over 700 citizens of Hortonia, Hortonville, and surrounding area who signed a petition in opposition to the construction of the youth prison,” he said.
The Department of Corrections will likely need to re-start the process of finding locations for new facilities, Cowles said.
The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to FOX 11’s request for comment.
Cowles also suggested the decision to close Lincoln Hills could be revisited.
Meanwhile, plans for four new facilities to house less serious offenders did get the Joint Finance Committee’s approval Wednesday.
Brown, Milwaukee and Racine counties propose building new facilities, while Dane County would expand an existing facility. The JFC approved $110,960,000 in grants to move those projects forward.
Brown County’s facility would include 32 short-term beds for youth going through the court process and 24-beds for inmates serving sentences up to a year.
Brown County projects those outside counties would pay between $550 and $685 per day, per inmate to help cover the $7.2 million it would cost per year to run the detention center. Brown County believes it would end up coming out ahead, because of what it would pay if the facility was built elsewhere.
