Federal judge ends Lincoln Hills consent decree

IRMA — Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) last month announced that a federal judge has ended court-mandated oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools in Irma.

Evers requested the end of the consent decree after a pair of monitor reports – one in Oct. 2025 and another in January – showed that the State of Wisconsin had reached full compliance with all 50 court-ordered reforms at the youth detention facility.

A federal judge granted Evers’ request on Thursday, Jan. 29.

In 2015, federal investigators raided the embattled Irma facility amid claims that staff had used excessive force. The raid preceded several lawsuits brought by youth who had been housed at the facility, and over the next four years, millions of dollars in legal settlements against the state were reached.

Following the lawsuits, the state was placed under court order requiring 50 reforms at the schools and regular visits by a court-approved monitor to review and assess DOC’s progress toward complying with court-ordered requirements.

The reforms included addressing staff shortages and staffing ratios, eliminating punitive solitary confinement, eliminating the use of pepper spray, limiting use of mechanical restraints, providing enhanced staff training and support, ensuring confined youth have consistent access to basic services and necessities, making and codifying several administrative rule changes and improving incident review and response efforts, among other reforms.

When Evers took office in Jan. 2019, the state was in compliance with one of the 50 court-ordered requirements. The state reached full compliance with all 50 reforms last October.

Last month’s release said the DOC’s motion to end the decree was filed simultaneously with the monitor’s report. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the plaintiff in a 2017 lawsuit over conditions at the schools that resulted in the consent decree, is not opposing the decree’s end, according to the release.

Youth housed at the Irma facilities are expected to be moved to two smaller regional facilities in Dane and Milwaukee counties. The Milwaukee County facility, called the Southeast Regional Care Center for Youth, is slated to open this fall, while work on the Dane County project is expected to wrap up in late 2028.

Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake is anticipated to close in early 2029. The facility will be converted into a 500-bed, medium-security facility for adults.

A release from Evers’ office said ending court-mandated oversight over the facility is a “key step in the process toward ultimately closing the youth facilities so that they can be converted into an adult institution to help address overcrowding at Wisconsin’s adult institutions.”

“The court’s decision to end federal oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools not only reflects years of our administration’s hard work and meaningful efforts to reform our juvenile corrections system, but it marks a critical step in bringing our kids closer to home as soon as we safely and responsibly can,” Evers stated.