Office of Governor Tony Evers *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:* January 29, 2026 Contact: [email protected]    *Gov. Evers, DOC Celebrate Federal Court Decision Ending Consent Decree at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools After Years of Successful Reforms* " Court grants the Department of Corrections’ motion to end the federal consent decree, marking another crucial step toward closing the two Wisconsin juvenile facilities" MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) Secretary Jared Hoy, today celebrated that after years of enacting successful reforms a federal judge has granted the Evers Administration’s request to end court-mandated oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, the state’s juvenile corrections facilities. Following the release [ [link removed] ] of a successful report in October and a subsequent successful report issued yesterday, the governor announced [ [link removed] ] the Evers Administration has, once again, met all 50 requirements governing the operations of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools, and as a result, the Department asked the federal court to end the consent decree, which has officially been granted. A copy of the court’s order to end the consent decree is available here [ [link removed] ]. 

Ending court-mandated oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake is a key step in the process toward ultimately closing the youth facilities so that they can be converted into an adult institution to help address overcrowding at Wisconsin’s adult institutions. Making critical steps toward closing the institutions, as well as sweeping policy and facility reforms the governor is proposing to Wisconsin’s adult corrections institutions, were a key component of the 2026 legislative priorities [ [link removed] ] Gov. Evers released earlier this month.

“The court’s decision to end federal oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools not only reflects years of our administration’s hard work and meaningful efforts to reform our juvenile corrections system, but it marks a critical step in bringing our kids closer to home as soon as we safely and responsibly can. I want to thank the many people across my administration who’ve done the hard work to make today a reality,” said Gov. Evers. “While this day has been a long time coming, to me, it’s important that we recognize and acknowledge that our work at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools over the last few years is not finished—and can never be finished. We must continue our efforts in earnest every day to ensure people are treated with dignity and respect, workers are safe on the job, and that we are using evidence-based and data-driven practices that save and change lives, reduce recidivism, and keep our communities safe.” 

The end of the consent decree marks another significant milestone in the Evers Administration’s efforts to close the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and move youth to new facilities to receive treatment closer to their home communities. After child abuse scandals at the schools during the previous administration resulted in tens of millions of dollars in legal fees due to youth abuse and maltreatment, the state of Wisconsin was placed under court order requiring dozens of reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools and regular visits by a court-approved monitor to review and assess DOC’s progress toward complying with court-ordered requirements.  

DOC’s motion to end the decree was filed simultaneously with the monitor’s report. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the plaintiff in a 2017 lawsuit over conditions at the schools under the previous administration that resulted in the consent decree, is not opposing the decree’s end. 

“Ending the consent decree is an important milestone for Wisconsin and especially for the Department of Corrections staff who have worked so hard to transform juvenile corrections,” said DOC Secretary Jared Hoy. “But our work is not done. Wisconsin has made a commitment to our youth to use evidence-based practices and create the supports that will allow these youth to return to and thrive in their communities. A new youth facility is now under construction in Milwaukee, and the department is actively planning for a second in Dane County. Both of those facilities are being designed around what we have learned about youth development, rehabilitation, and education with the goal of building and strengthening family and community ties.”

*THE CHALLENGES AT LINCOLN HILLS AND COPPER LAKE SCHOOLS*
In 2015, under former Gov. Scott Walker’s Administration, dozens of law enforcement officers [ [link removed] ] raided Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools as part of a criminal probe into claims of abuse and unsafe working conditions that resulted in several lawsuits regarding child abuse and mistreatment. The raid [ [link removed] ] was the culmination of a concerning pattern of reports and complaints [ [link removed] ] over the course of several years [ [link removed] ]. 

State and federal investigators at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools ultimately found frequent and excessive use of force on kids, excessive use of pepper spray, excessive confinement, failure to intervene in youth-on-youth fights, no investigations into sexual misconduct allegations, sexual abuse of youth, and physical abuse of youth that included broken bones and feet being slammed in doors.

The Walker-era scandal ultimately resulted in the state spending more than $25 million in legal fees and settlement agreements [ [link removed] ] resulting from abuse and maltreatment at the schools. 

Consequently, the state of Wisconsin was subject to court orders requiring DOC to implement 50 reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, including addressing staff shortages and staffing ratios, eliminating punitive solitary confinement, eliminating the use of pepper spray, limiting use of mechanical restraints, providing enhanced staff training and support, ensuring confined youth have consistent access to basic services and necessities, making and codifying several administrative rule changes, and improving incident review and response efforts, among other requirements. On a quarterly basis since then, a court-approved monitor with expertise in juvenile corrections has visited the facilities, interviewed youth and staff, and ensured compliance with the court-ordered requirements. 

When the Walker Administration ended in January 2019, the state was in substantial compliance with just one of the 50 court-ordered requirements. As of Oct. 2, 2025, DOC and the Evers Administration have reached compliance with all 50 reforms. Reaching and maintaining full compliance with the court-approved consent decree is a significant and crucial step toward ultimately closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, but much work nevertheless remains to be able to move all youth from the schools, close the facilities, and proceed as planned with converting the institutions to an adult corrections facility. 

*NEW JUVENILE FACILITIES IN DEVELOPMENT*
The Southeast Regional Care Center for Youth, a new Type 1 secure juvenile correctional facility in Milwaukee, is expected to open this fall. At that time, the state will be able to begin moving some youth housed at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools closer to home safely and responsibly, bringing the state another step closer to using the facilities for adult corrections, which will help alleviate staffing and capacity challenges at other adult institutions. 

However, closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and converting the schools to adult correctional institutions will require more juvenile Type 1 facilities to be online in addition to other programming designed to improve youth treatment, rehabilitation, and successful reentry.

DOC is currently in the final planning stages for a second Type 1 facility to be built in Dane County on state-owned land in Fitchburg near Oakhill Correctional Institution. The 2025-27 state budget includes $130.7 million for the new facility.

In addition, the budget included $1.5 million in planning money for a proposed expansion of the nearby Grow Academy, a residential program offering comprehensive treatment for county and state-supervised youth as an alternative to incarceration.  

A timeline of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools events, including the implementation of Act 185 and updates on Type 1 facilities projects, can be found here [ [link removed] ] on the DOC website. A listing of all court-ordered monitor reports can be found here [ [link removed] ]. 

*ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS’ AND EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO CLOSE LINCOLN HILLS AND COPPER LAKE SCHOOLS*
Gov. Evers, Secretary Hoy, and the Evers Administration have spent seven years working to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools to get kids closer to home safely and responsibly while operating under the 2017 Act 185 (Act 185) framework passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Walker in 2018. In the wake of the raid and subsequent allegations, Act 185 [ [link removed] ] called for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake to be closed as a youth facility and to build new, smaller, regional facilities to replace the schools, ensuring youth can receive treatment closer to their homes and their family and community supports.  

Gov. Evers has long supported efforts to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, including during his time as state superintendent, and has spent most of his tenure as governor working to reform the state’s juvenile and adult justice systems. The governor has proposed measures to make sweeping changes to Wisconsin’s corrections landscape in his 2019-21, 2021-23, 2023-25, and 2025-27 Executive and Capital Budgets, the vast majority of which were rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature. 

In April 2022, Gov. Evers signed [ [link removed] ] Senate Bill 520, now 2021 Wisconsin Act 252, which furthered the eventual closure of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools after Act 185’s enactment by authorizing up to $41.7 million in bonding for the purpose of constructing a new Type 1 juvenile facility in Milwaukee County. Additionally, the bipartisan 2025-27 state budget included $130.7 million to construct an additional Type 1 facility in Dane County but, unfortunately, did not approve funding for the northern Type 1 and approved only $1.5 million of the $3.1 million Gov. Evers requested to plan a Grow Academy expansion, which is also a critical piece of the plan to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

Efforts to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake Schools, as well as other measures to resolve longstanding barriers to safety and security in Wisconsin’s correctional institutions, were a key component of the governor’s recent letter to the Wisconsin State Legislature, outlining his priorities for the remaining 11 months of 2026 and the current 2025-27 Legislative Session. More on Gov. Evers’ 2026 Legislative Agenda is available here [ [link removed] ].   
  An online version of this release is available here [ [link removed] ]. ###

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