As we progress into the new year without a Governor Scott Walker at the helm…despite his twitter gloats about his legacy…we will probably see more articles like these:
Overtime at Wisconsin prisons continues to soar, topping $50 million in 2018
Overtime at Wisconsin state prisons topped $50 million last year, underscoring the budget challenges Gov. Tony Evers and lawmakers will face with the state’s correctional system.
The $50.6 million spent on overtime last year at adult prisons is 17 percent higher than the $43.1 million spent in 2016, according to a Department of Corrections report to the Legislature’s budget committee.
Overtime at prisons has long plagued Wisconsin budgets, in large part because of chronic understaffing.
Prison officials contend the problem has been particularly challenging because of a low unemployment rate that makes it hard to hire and keep workers.
Yes I realize that this is a chronic and difficult problem to solve but the former governor had eight years to work on it. Maybe he could have budgeted increased pay and better working conditions instead of continuing to pay overtime? It might have helped him reach his goal on creating jobs…his four year goal that he failed to meet in eight years of a recovering economy. shrug.
Lincoln Hills Youth Prison Not Keeping Inmates’ Cells ‘Suicide Resistant’
A new report shows staff at the state’s youth prison is not taking court-ordered steps to prevent suicide attempts even after taxpayers paid nearly $19 million to a former inmate who suffered severe brain damage after guards there ignored the suicidal girl’s call for help.
Staff at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls is only partially complying with a plan ordered by a federal judge to improve conditions for its teen inmates and its staff, the report filed in court Monday shows.
Other reports say that former Governor Walker never visited Lincoln Hills…and that Governor Tony Evers planned to visit. I haven’t seen whether he has or not. The former governor did in fact begin plans to close the Lincoln Hills facility and replace it with smaller localized centers that are supposed to be ready by 2022 I believe. But none of this should have taken so long to resolve in the first place.
Side note: There was the Ethan Allen boys facility in Wales WI (Waukesha County) when Scott Walker took office…but he closed that during his first term.
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