Report: Youth prison still grappling with issues
July 2, 2019 2:00AM CDT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A court-appointed monitor reports that conditions at Wisconsin’s troubled youth prison are improving but bathrooms remain dirty, staffing shortages persist and guards are still using pepper spray too often.
Monitor Teresa Abreu added in a report filed in federal court Monday that staffers lack skills to calm inmates down or restrain them.
The report was based on Abreu’s three-day visit to the facility outside Irma from May 31 to June 2.
The state agreed to submit to ongoing monitoring at the prison as part of a 2018 deal with the American Civil Liberties Union to settle allegations of guard-on-inmate abuse.
State Department of Corrections officials didn’t immediately respond to an email.