Wisconsin’s Evers urges federal judge not to make changes at youth prison in wake of counselor death

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers is urging a federal judge not to make any changes at Wisconsin’s youth prison after a counselor was killed during a fight there. Pressure has been mounting to give Lincoln Hills-Copper Lakes Schools staff more leeway in punishing incarcerated children since a 16-year-old boy was accused of killing counselor Corey Proulx during a fistfight in June. But a 2018 federal consent decree restricts actions counselors can take against youth incarcerated at the facility. Republican lawmakers have been pressuring Department of Corrections officials to ask a federal judge in Madison to ease the restrictions. Evers sent a letter to the judge Wednesday urging him to reject any GOP requests to revise the decree, saying conditions at the prison have been improving overall.