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Lincoln Hills Will Be Closed: Gov. Evers

Department of Corrections

A troubled juvenile prison will be replaced with new facilities.

In a press release  Tuesday morning, Governor Tony Evers will move forward with closing the Lincoln Hills youth prison. The release outlines that the Department of Corrections and the Department of Administration will begin work on building two Type 1 juvenile correctional facilities. The two facilities will be located in Milwaukee and Hortonia respectively.

The two sites were identified in the 2017 Wisconsin Act 185 as locations good for new facilities. The Milwaukee location was identified for its ease of access for families to visit. While the Hortonia location is recommended for it's proximity to families of juveniles held by corrections.

Governor Evers said of the announcement, "We are committed to getting kids out of Lincoln Hills and closer to home as soon as we safely and responsibly can. 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,".

Evers also announced the members of the Juvenile Corrections Grant Committee that will work on determining the grants to counties to being the construction of Secure Youth Residential Centers for Children and Youth. The chair of the committee will be Rep. David Crowley and the nonprofit representative is Sharlen Moore. The DOC and DOA's next step will be to work with local leaders in the two locations to schedule community input gathering sessions.

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