"Youth Justice Milwaukee" calls for closure of Lincoln Hills, Cooper Lake youth prisons

MILWAUKEE -- A new organization wants to close two youth prisons.

"Youth Justice Milwaukee" held a news conference Wednesday, March 22nd.

The organization is a coalition of community groups, youth advocates and family members of kids in the juvenile justice system.

They said Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls are ineffective and expensive. Lincoln Hills is also the subject of an FBI investigation into abuse at the prison.

Youth Justice Milwaukee wants to replace the prisons with what they're calling "family-centered restorative programs."

"We have traumatized our kids by locking them up in these old, outdated and obsolete youth prisons. We are traumatizing their families and the communities live in and it needs to stop," Sharlen Moore with Youth Justice Milwaukee said.

In February, the head of Wisconsin's prison system told lawmakers Lincoln Hills is safe.

He said they've trained guards to talk inmates out of dangerous situations and are minimizing solitary confinement, the use of pepper spray and restraints.