Wisconsin state legislators want the Department of Corrections to substantially lower costs for operating juvenile correctional facilities
On May 22 the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee voted 11-5 to direct the department to either close one of the three secured juvenile facilities or take other measures to reduce the daily cost of incarceration to $187. That fee is charged to counties, who send youths to the facilities.
A plan for doing either of those alternatives would have to be submitted to the committee by March 1 if the full Legislature and the governor approve.
Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greendale, who proposed the motion with Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said that the daily rate charged by corrections to counties who send juveniles to state facilities has accelerated substantially. At the same time, fewer youths are being housed there, other legislators stressed.
The three facilities in question are Ethan Allen School, Lincoln Hills School and the Southern Oaks Girls School.
The population in secure juvenile facilities has declined from 1,038 in 1995-96 to 659 in the current fiscal year, as counties with large populations found other alternatives and 17-year-olds were sent to adult facilities. The result has been that lightly populated counties end up paying a higher daily rate for incarceration, which many have trouble affording.
But Corrections Secretary Matt Frank, reached this morning, says that both options - closing a facility or slashing costs - are bad ideas. "The Joint Finance Committee did not request any input from the Department of Corrections," Frank said. "We did not have an opportunity to comment."
Substantial cuts already have been made, he said, and more could hurt the ability to rehabilitate youngsters.
Frank said that closing one institution would mean that the others would be crowded or that new construction would have to occur at the remaining facilities.
"The juveniles sent to corrections now tend to have significant problems. They tend to be more violent and assaultive and tend to have more mental illness," Frank said. "Even with progress by counties in dealing with kids in the community, these are the juveniles who need to be sent to a state institution."
More budget cuts could involve cutting youth counselors responsible for providing safety and security, teachers responsible for educating the juveniles or sex offender specialists, he said.
Frank also noted that state law requires the youth correctional facilities to be schools, and that a high percentage of the youths sent there need special education, which is expensive.
The state governor's proposed budget would have raised the daily juvenile incarceration care from its current $187 to $218 in 2005-07 and $224 in 2006-07. The finance committee instead approved a rate of $215 for the first fiscal year and $221 for the second. Other decisions also will affect the final number, but it will be lower than the governor's proposal, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
The Joint Committee on Finance is a statutory, standing committee of the Wisconsin Legislature. The Committee's primary responsibility is to serve as the principal legislative committee charged with the review of all state appropriations and revenues.
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