The Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center could be the site of a new youth residential care center in the near future.
State and local councils and committees have begun sorting out new legislation that closes the Lincoln Hills youth prison and authorizes local jurisdictions the opportunity to access funds to create residential care centers for youth across the state.
The law, Wisconsin Act 185, gives the Department of Corrections until 2021 to close the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile correctional facility, amidst claims of neglect from staff and a federal investigation into excessive use of force by former guards. The Milwaukee Community Justice Council met Wednesday to discuss the legislation, which was signed by Gov. Scott Walker in March.
“We’re taking your thoughts and we’re making them our own,” said Chief Judge Maxine Aldridge-White at the meeting. “We are the ones that really need to start from a big pool of resources and figure out how to re-configure them in a way that will work for us.”
Representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Youth and Family Services and Milwaukee Police Department, among others, met with community members to gather input and discuss key elements of the act.
Secured Residential Care Centers for Children and Youth
One key element of the act discussed was the creation of Secured Residential Care Centers for Children and Youth (SRCCCYs). The act created a 10-member Juvenile Corrections Grant Committee which will award a grant providing 95% of the design and construction costs to build an SRCCCY, according to the Department of Corrections. Milwaukee County is planning on applying for the grant, as the act says that a county can establish the SRCCCY by itself, however, they will be “subject to DOC requirements related to programming and services that must be provided to juveniles.”
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The Milwaukee County Division of Youth and Family Services is currently working to develop a state grant application to present to the County Board. The Council plans to implement an education program and an integrated treatment model that would address adolescent brain development.
“We are working to create a system that is much more effective at addressing the needs of our youth in a safe, trauma informed, developmentally appropriate manner,” said Mary Jo Meyers, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services. “We believe Act 185 will help us move this work forward.”
Mary Jo Meyers, the director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, is working to implement WI Act 185 in Milwaukee.
The Division of Youth and Family Services have hired a grant writer for the application. They are currently looking at options for the location of the site, as they have hired an architect to look into the possibility of the Vel R. Phillips Justice Center as a potential site. The deadline for the grant submission is March 31, 2019.
53206
Wisconsin is home to the highest incarceration rates for African American men in the country. A 2007 UW-Milwaukee study found that up to 62% of African American men in zip code 53206 have been imprisoned by the age 34. This is something that Alan Schultz, state board member with EX-incarcerated People Organizing, is hoping changes soon.
“I think [the meeting] was positive in the fact that they were coming up with a lot of options for programs that might be feasible for actually helping the youth,” said Schultz. “I think the people really need to get out here and start putting pressure to get real reform and real change.”
Alan Schultz, state board member with EX-incarcerated People Organizing, said more needs to be done to keep youth out of prisons.
Meyers hopes this act will help strengthen the way youth correction services are offered in Milwaukee as well. She believes it will lower recidivism rates in the long run. “Milwaukee County has 61% of the youth currently placed at Lincoln Hills, the majority of whom are youth of color,” she said. “This is an opportunity to begin breaking the cycle we have of racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system, and it is imperative we get this right.”
