Funding for Mendota treatment center withheld by Republican lawmakers

Lincoln Hills, a detention facility the state has ordered closed by 2021. (Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections)

A 16-year-old boy was charged last week with second-degree reckless homicide, felony murder and two counts of battery of 49-year-old Corey Proulx, a youth counselor for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections at Lincoln Hills School for Boys who was killed at work.

The youth prison — as well as Copper Lake School for Girls — are in Irma and are known for reports of a violent atmosphere and other serious problems for youth and staff. Last week, Gov. Tony Evers ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Proulx.

“Our hearts break for Corey, his family and loved ones, his colleagues at the department, and all those who knew and loved him. By all accounts, Corey was a dedicated public servant who led with kindness and compassion in his commitment toward helping and supporting the youth he worked with,” Evers said.

A plan to close the facilities was developed in 2017 but remains in limbo.  Attorneys have said that before Proulx’s death, officials had tried to get the youth moved to Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center (MTJC), a facility in Madison that provides specialized treatment services for juveniles transferred from the Department of Corrections, but they were unsure if there was space for him at the facility. Plans to expand the facility have been delayed due to objections from Republican lawmakers. 

Currently, MJTC has 29 beds, but expansions of the facility are meant to bring that total to 94 beds, including 50 new additional beds and 15 renovated spots. The expansion is supposed to help work towards the closure of Lincoln Hills in accordance with Wisconsin Act 185. Additional staff is necessary to meet the medical and behavioral needs of those at the facility. The Department of Health Services submitted a request in January to the Joint Finance Committee for the approval of about 124 positions, which was estimated to cost about $12 million.

A lawmaker on the committee objected to the request in February and it has yet to be fulfilled. Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the committee “has not denied DHS’ funding request for MJTC.”

“There has not been a vote on this request. We have asked DHS several clarifying questions in order to move this request forward, but have not received complete responses to date,” the co-chairs said.

The lawmakers also noted in the statement that the Mendota population for the last six months has hovered between 19-22 individuals. 

“We do not know what causes MJTC to refuse transfers from Lincoln Hills. But we do know that there are a lot of factors involved in these decisions,” the lawmakers said. 

The lawmakers’ requests were explained in a May letter to Department of Administration Secretary-designee Kathy Blumenfeld and Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Kirsten Johnson. In the letter, the co-chairs said the expansion of the facility needs to be “done on a scale and schedule that are appropriate for current and future demand for MJTC treatment services and, further, must be done in coordination with other changes in the juvenile justice system. If this is not done, the cost of MJTC operations could exceed the appropriation authority, and program revenue, available in the Department of Corrections to pay those costs.”

The letter asked the departments to develop and provide a plan to the committee that considers several factors including whether there will be sufficient funding for additional costs, staffing based on “realistic” population projections and whether the facility could be adapted to serve more juvenile treatment and custodial needs. It suggested that the facility may not need as many staff positions as requested. 

“The total secure juvenile correctional population has decreased substantially over the past decade, and MJTC has remained below its full, existing capacity for much of the past few years,” the chairs stated. “Although it is possible that the juvenile correctional population will increase again in the future, it is important that the state plan for the possibility that it will not.” 

Lawmakers requested that the departments respond to the request by September 16.

In a letter last month, Evers said he was “disturbed,” and that it seems that Republicans were abandoning the “basic tenets and goals of 2017 Act 185 and the efforts to close Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake and reform our juvenile justice system, which once enjoyed unanimous, bipartisan support.”

Evers, urging lawmakers to release the funding, said the delays are unacceptable. He also provided additional information about the ongoing work that DHS is doing, including the incremental staffing plan.

In a statement this week, Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said the administration “has faced near-constant obstruction and inaction from Republican lawmakers who’ve consistently and repeatedly delayed or refused to approve the investments, policy changes, and rules necessary to make closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake possible.”

One Democrat told the Wisconsin Examiner that the withholding of the money is an ongoing pattern with Republicans on the committee.

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), said her heart goes out to the family of Proulx, the youth counselor who died. “To some degree, I don’t think it was a surprise,” she added. She said the state isn’t prepared to address the growing behavioral and mental health problems of youth  in the state in part because of the refusal to invest more money in services for juveniles. She said the Mendota facility is a place where youth can “go and they can become stabilized with their mental health. They have the expertise. They have the doctors there, where they can get ongoing therapy and treatment, and they actually can make them take their meds to help stabilize them.” 

“The department came to us and they asked for additional staffers so that they could adequately care for these kids, and nothing was being done, and the reality is the community pays, [Proulx’s] family is paying for our inability to not do the right thing, and that’s not right,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said the current impasse is a result of Republican lawmakers not wanting to give power or authority over to the governor and his administration. She said Republicans often keep a tally of how many positions they can pull from departments.

“If positions are not being filled, the first thing that they do is eliminate those positions. And we know that there’s a worker shortage,” Johnson said. “That doesn’t mean that the position isn’t needed.”

Born and Marklein said on Tuesday, however, that they “want to get this done.” The lawmakers noted that the Legislature approved 43 additional positions for Mendota in the 2019-2021 state budget, making for a total of 93 positions, and that the positions were only recently filled. 

“If we had instantaneously approved the funding when it was requested in February, by DHS’ own description, the positions in this funding would not be ready to increase capacity until August,” the co-chairs said. “The bottom-line is that the administration should stop pointing fingers, misleading the public and start solving problems by answering our questions and working with us to complete the process.”

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