A security fence surrounds the entrance to the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls complex in rural Irma, Wisconsin, in this file photo. Some youths in custody have been telling their legal representation that they are being “isolated for prolonged periods.” (Dan Young / USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
By Devin Blake
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Those involved in improving conditions at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls acknowledge progress in treatment of youths there. But some youths are alleging that they are being isolated for prolonged periods.
Prolonged isolation in prison is widely recognized by researchers as having serious effects on both physical and mental health.
“While development is still taking place, cutting off interaction and stimuli is really, really bad for people and not necessary for a safe facility … ,” said Margo Schlanger, the Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan.
In 2017, attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of youths at the prisons, alleging they had been subjected to unlawful and unconstitutional treatment, including unlawful solitary confinement, mechanical restraints and pepper spraying.
In 2018, a settlement was reached, which called for new restrictions regarding the use of punitive measures, such as pepper spray, mechanical restraints and isolation. It also called for a monitor to regularly report on whether the prison is in compliance with these new restrictions.
Latest report
The monitor’s most recent report was filed in April.
In a press release about this report, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections celebrated its “continued improvements” and noted that it is in “substantial compliance” with 43 of the 50 provisions in the consent decree – an increase from 36 provisions in the previous report.
The monitor’s report also noted the high percentage of provisions with which the prisons are in substantial compliance and stated that their overall operations “continue to be moving in a positive direction.”
But, the report stated, the youths also “raised significant consistent concerns,” including being “isolated for prolonged periods” of time.
The report describes “administrative confinement,” which is defined as “the involuntary nonpunitive restriction of a youth locked alone in a room or other area because the youth poses a serious risk of imminent physical harm to others.”
What does the Department Of Corrections say?
Administrative confinement also is used in cases where youths are being transferred to different facilities, Beth Hardtke, director of communications for the Department of Corrections, said in an email.
The monitor’s report stated that the frequency of administrative confinement was significantly lower for the boys for this reporting period compared to the previous one, but significantly higher for girls.
Youths’ concerns about isolation are consistent with research.
Craig Haney, distinguished professor in the psychology department at th’e University of California, Santa Cruz and a leading expert on the effects of solitary confinement, stated in a 2020 essay, for example, that the “social exclusion, loneliness and the deprivation of caring human touch” associated with solitary confinement causes both physical and psychological harm and can be life-threatening.
Being isolated socially “increases the prevalence of depression and anxiety among adolescents and adults and is also related to psychosis, paranoia and suicidal behavior,” wrote Haney.
Administrative confinement is never used as punishment but only to confine those who pose imminent harm, said Hardtke.
Administrative confinement in a youth facility is not the same as solitary confinement in an adult facility, she said.
“Even in administrative confinement status, youth are still interacting with staff,” including social workers and mental health professionals in order to address their behaviors with the goal of returning them to the general population as soon as they no longer pose a risk, Hardtke said.
Youth do not experience prolonged periods of isolation in administrative confinement, she said, and compliance with the consent decree is not judged on the number of cases of administrative confinement but on whether administrative confinement was used appropriately.
According to the consent decree, an initial period of administrative confinement may not exceed four hours.
However, according to the monitor’s latest report, seven girls were confined administratively for more than four hours.
Hardtke said that the average confinement during this period at Copper Lake was 2.3 hours.
R. Timothy Muth, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs since the beginning of the lawsuit, acknowledges the contrast in the monitor’s findings.
He stated that while there’s been “a significant reduction” in the conditions that gave rise to the 2017 lawsuit, he and his colleagues “are concerned that the facility has not yet been able to fully reduce and/or eliminate room confinement … .”
Remedies
The report said that the Department of Corrections needs to “continue to examine use of all forms of confinement and review incidents to ensure that staff are not using any form of confinement as punitive confinement.”
“It is critical that we keep young people out of administrative confinement, given that it causes deep and lasting harm, so we are watching this issue carefully,” Muth said.
Muth added that he and his colleagues “continue to work closely” with all parties to address and resolve outstanding issues “without having to seek the court’s intervention.”
Hardtke also emphasized the importance of collaboration.
“Since the beginning of the consent decree, the department has kept communication open and remains in regular contact with both the monitor and plaintiff’s counsel,” she said.
Devin Blake is the criminal justice reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. His position is funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, which plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.