Wisconsin settles for $5 million in more Lincoln Hills, Copper Lake cases
Wisconsin officials said Thursday they have settled with three former inmates of a youth prison complex for nearly $5 million, bringing the state’s costs related to problems there to about $25 million.
Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, located near Irma, have been plagued with problems that began as early as 2012. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration is now tasked with overseeing the state’s only youth prison, which is scheduled to close in 2021.
Two former Copper Lake inmates, Laera Reed and Paige Ray-Cluney, will each receive $1.95 million for problems during their confinements in 2015 and 2016. The two girls, both from Iowa, went to Copper Lake under an interstate agreement.
Reed became suicidal while being kept in solitary confinement for more than 60 days in a cell without a toilet, the lawsuit said. During Reed’s roughly nine-month stay, guard Kyle Hoff allegedly slammed her head against a wall and, after Reed placed her head under a cot, stood on top of the frame to tighten it against her neck.
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