Wisconsin settles more juvenile-prison lawsuits

By: Associated Press//June 20, 2019//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin has agreed to pay nearly $5 million to three former inmates at Wisconsin’s juvenile prison complex, raising the state’s legal bills for problems there to more than $25 million.

The settlements announced Thursday include nearly $4 million for two young Iowa women who alleged they had suffered abuse at the Copper Lake facility, where they were sent after Iowa closed its school for troubled girls.

The settlements wrap up some of the last lawsuits over the Copper Lake prison for girls and Lincoln Hills prison for boys, which have been mired in litigation and investigations for years.

The prisons are scheduled to close in 2021, although Gov. Tony Evers has said more time may be needed to transfer teens held there to regional centers that have yet to be built.

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