Updated Feb. 25 at 4:15 p.m. CST
The Associated Press reports that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says Republican gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch urged him to let the Lincoln Hill legislation bill move forward Thursday. The Assembly then passed the measure Thursday evening but changed it, so it has to go back to the state Senate, which is not scheduled to meet until March.
Original story:
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is slinging back criticism from a top Republican over another apparent delay in building a new state-run youth detention facility.
The state Senate voted unanimously this week to support spending $42 million on replacing the Lincoln Hills School for Boys in north central Wisconsin with a new building in Milwaukee County. But just before that vote, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said the measure is unlikely to make it onto the state Assembly's agenda.
Vos said the Evers administration has failed to come up with a site.
"If you remember, they tried on the northwest side of Milwaukee. Faced intense opposition, and really have done nothing since. So, it's very challenging for us to say we're going to pass a bill with a bunch of money without a site to have it actually go to, without the due diligence. And that has to happen from the Evers administration, " Vos said during a news conference broadcasted on WisconsinEye.
But in Milwaukee, Evers said Wednesday he's confident about finding a Milwaukee County site.
"We'll find one. Everybody wants it here. We'll look at multiple sites. Any site we choose, there may be people against it. But at some time, there's a hierarchy of needs, and the most important hierarchy are the kids up in Lincoln Hills," Evers said during a news conference at City Hall.
Evers said having the money now would help the planning process go forward. Lawmakers agreed four years ago to close Lincoln Hills after some children were pepper sprayed and a child was injured when guards were slow to respond to a suicide attempt. The state had to pay more than $25 million for legal fees and to compensate some of those injured.
Some other counties have been expanding their facilities for juveniles, as the plan has been to replace Lincoln Hills with a smaller facility. Only about 40 male juveniles are still up north and only about 15 female juveniles at a companion building, Copper Lake.
But work on the Milwaukee site has been bogged down. The state is thought to be eyeing the Felmers O. Chaney Correctional Center near 30th and Locust.
WUWM asked Evers if Vos doesn't want to give the governor a political win in a reelection year.
"I can't believe there would be a political angle on this," Evers deadpanned. "I'm being facetious. Of course, there is. 'Don't give Evers a win.' Bottom line. When you mess around with kids' lives for that purpose, that be wrong."
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said local budgets are suffering during the search for a replacement for Lincoln Hills.
"Now that we're sending less young people there it's becoming much more expensive for local municipalities when it comes down the incarceration of young people," he said.
Crowley is a former Democratic state representative. He's siding with Evers in calling on Vos to let the state Assembly take up the bill to build a new juvenile detention facility.
Editor’s note: A portion of the audio is from WisconsinEye.
