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State Building Commission approves funds for 4 county-run juvenile justice centers

Wisconsin State Journal - 2/28/2020

Feb. 28--The state Building Commission has approved the roughly $22 million gap in funds needed for the $102 million plan for county-run juvenile justice centers in four counties.

The commission, a panel headed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers that has bonding authority, approved the funds on Thursday. The centers will be located in Brown, Dane, Milwaukee and Racine counties.

"Today's action is a significant step toward a new Youth Justice facility in Racine County that will better rehabilitate and re-integrate our young adults in the juvenile justice system," Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said in a statement. "This facility will keep Racine County children close to their families, help reduce recidivism rates, and cut costs for local taxpayers."

Despite a request from the Department of Corrections for $122 million for the project, the Joint Committee on Finance gave preliminary approval to $80 million -- leaving the gap in funds. GOP members also cut about $8.4 million from the Milwaukee County proposal.

The Republican-led committee also took fire from Democrats for denying DOC's request for $73 million for two state-run facilities in Milwaukee and Outagamie counties for more serious offenders.

Republicans cited pushback from local governments and area residents in Milwaukee and Hortonia as main reasons for their decision not to fund state-run facilities for serious juvenile offenders in those communities.

Ultimately, the decision is expected to again delay plans to close down Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls near Irma. Lawmakers already had pushed back the deadline to July 2021.

Lawmakers in 2018 voted to close the youth prison by next January and replace it with smaller, regional state- and county-run facilities following years of alleged abuse by staff against inmates at the juvenile facility that has resulted in millions of dollars in legal settlements against the state.

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