|
|
| Wisconsin votes to close juvenile prisons |
| By therepublic.com - TODD RICHMOND Associated Press |
| Published: 06/01/2011 |
|
MADISON, Wis. — The Legislature's budget committee voted Tuesday to shut down two juvenile prisons in southeastern Wisconsin and move the inmates across the state to other facilities. The Republican-controlled panel approved a provision in Gov. Scott Walker's executive budget that calls for closing Ethan Allen School, a boys' reformatory in Wales, and Southern Oaks Girls School in Union Grove and transfer the inmates to Lincoln Hills School in Irma, in far northern Wisconsin. The moves would save about $46 million over the next two fiscal years. States across the country have been shuttering juvenile prisons as population levels drop, providing cash-strapped Legislatures with an easy way to save money. Wisconsin corrections officials have been weighing whether to consolidate their juvenile facilities for years; the state's average daily juvenile population has plummeted by 50 percent over the last decade. The measure passed 12-4 as part of an omnibus motion revising a large chunk of the Department of Corrections' budget. The four Democrats on the committee didn't contest the juvenile provisions. A commission former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle appointed last year to study consolidating the state's juvenile prisons stopped short of making a formal recommendation, although more members voted to close Ethan Allen than Lincoln Hills. The commission's report said Lincoln Hills offered more expansion capacity but Ethan Allen is closer to heavily populated urban areas and an array of community support programs designed to help inmates rejoin society. Walker ended the suspense over consolidation in March when he released the budget. The Department of Corrections has been working to close both facilities since late March, moving about 70 boys to Lincoln Hills. The agency plans to move the remaining 66 to Lincoln Hills by mid-June and move the 17 girls at Southern Oaks to the new Lincoln Hills school by the end of the month. The Corrections Department plans to bump up free visitor bus services to Lincoln Hills in July from once a month to once per week to give parents and relatives in Milwaukee, Madison and the Fox Cities more opportunities to see their children. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think