Juvenile Prison Employees Described Chaotic Environment

Workers at troubled youth prisons in northern Wisconsin tell a state senator that conditions are chaotic and they are “scared to death.”

State Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, released records Friday including emails and descriptions of telephone calls his office received from employees at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile prisons. They share a campus north of Wausau.

Tiffany and state Rep. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, on Monday provided the records in a letter Monday they sent to a federal judge asking him to reverse his order requiring the prisons to curb the use of certain disciplinary tactics at the prisons.

One counselor told Tiffany that he quit his job because “behavior is chaotic.”

A female worker described being verbally sexually assaulted by inmates to the point where she broke down in tears.