The state Senate's judiciary committee grilled top agency leaders about a counselor's death at the state's youth prison in Lincoln County.
According to prosecutors, a 16-year-old inmate punched Corey Proulx during a fight at the facility in northern Wisconsin in June, causing Proulx's head to hit the concrete pavement. The boy and a 17-year-old inmate have both been charged in connection with the death.
The juvenile prison has been under intense scrutiny for years amid abuse allegations and lawsuits by people incarcerated there. In 2017, the state paid more than $25 million to settle a lawsuit and a federal judge appointed a monitor to oversee conditions at the facility. The monitor, who continues to report on conditions at the prison, has said the situation is improving.
During a hearing near the prison in Merrill, committee members pressed Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy about how much leeway counselors have to defend themselves, questioning at one point whether Proulx could have used pepper spray on his attacker.
Hoy, wearing a black-and-silver lapel ribbon emblazoned with Proulx’s name, said that the court settlement prohibits pepper spray and limits the use of mechanical restraints. But counselors can use as much force as necessary to protect themselves, he said.
He tried to paint a positive picture of life at the prison, saying counselors have adopted a gentler approach with inmates geared more toward rehabilitation than punishment and relationships with them have improved.
State Sen. Mary Felzkowski, a Republican whose district includes the youth prison, would have none of it. She said staffers feel as if they’re not allowed to defend themselves and fear retribution if they complain.
“We need to find out what went wrong, because we have two lives ended," she said.
She said that she planned to write a letter to U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison and ask him to amend the settlement to allow counselors to use pepper spray again.
Families of inmates and former prison workers previously urged lawmakers at a July hearing to fix what they said were systemic problems in Wisconsin’s prison system.
Republican legislators have been blasting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration for years over chronic guard shortages at Wisconsin's prisons and have been pushing him to close an aging maximum security prison in Green Bay.
Evers has upped guard salaries in an attempt to generate more hires but has refused to entertain closing the Green Bay facility, saying he won't consider it without a broader plan to find places to house those inmates.
