New House of Correction superintendent cannot get access to building
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Milwaukee County Board has approved a new superintendent for the Milwaukee County House of Correction -- but this new leader still cannot get into the building, due to the ongoing conflict between Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and County Executive Chris Abele.
On Tuesday afternoon, March 12th, the Milwaukee County Board voted 12-4 to name Michael Hafemann as the superintendent of the House of Correction as of Wednesday. But what exactly that will mean is not clear.
County Executive Abele appointed Hafemann as the new superintendent of the House of Correction in Franklin, but a lawsuit filed by Sheriff David Clarke in December is trying to stop that.
"We were informed you're not going to get access to the facility. The Sheriff won't allow it," Hafemann said.
"The fact we're even having a discussion about whether or not a new superintendent is allowed on the premises of the facility he's been hired to oversee is not frankly anybody's idea of an ideal solution," Abele said.
Right now, Hafemann is being paid $47 an hour for only the hours he puts in with no benefits yet. He attends meetings with those in government and corrections on what needs to be done, but it seems politics is stopping him from actually doing it.
"There's always politics involved whether you're budgeting or dealing with any issue. Eventually we're going to get to the position where the issue is going to be running the House of Correction, setting up the programming that different groups have been looking for," Hafemann said.
Sheriff Clarke has said Hafemann hasn't gone through a background check yet.
Tuesday afternoon, the County Board voted that as soon as that's done and Hafemann is officially confirmed by the County Board, he should have access to the House of Correction.
When that will be done, or whether Sheriff Clarke will let Hafemann in is still in question.
Sheriff Clarke is not commenting at this time because the case is in litigation.