Judge orders changes at youth prisons by July 21st: Reduce use of solitary confinement, pepper spray

MADISON — A federal judge has ordered the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to make a series of changes at Wisconsin's juvenile prisons to reduce the use of solitary confinement and pepper spray by July 21st.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson said in his order Monday, July 10th that the changes will "drastically reduce the use of punitive restrictive housing, chemical agents, and mechanical restraints."

The Department of Corrections and attorneys representing past and current inmates had submitted a largely agreed-upon plan on Friday for the judge to review.

The judge says in his order that most of the critical changes must be in place by July 21st. But he says he's giving prison officials more time to implement other changes that require additional training or programming for the inmates at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake prisons.

The ACLU of Wisconsin issued the following tweets on Monday afternoon:

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