End of investigation doesn’t mean end of problems at Wisconsin’s youth prison

The case has been slammed shut like a jail cell door. But that doesn’t mean the problems are over at Wisconsin’s troubled you the prison. A federal investigation into the Lincoln Hills School for Boys has ended without the filing of criminal charges. An investigation by the Department of Justice and the FBI found insufficient evidence that staff members at Lincoln Hills had used unreasonable force against inmates. The burden of proof necessary to file criminal charges is high, because prosecutors would have to be able to prove not only that staff used unreasonable force, but that they did so willfully. Ask the teenager who lost two toes to amputation after his foot was slammed in the jail cell by a guard whether it was unreasonable force. But despite the failure to file criminal charges, plenty of problems remain at Forest Hills. A number of civil lawsuits are pending citing abuse by guards. Former Governor Scott Walker, who never bothered to visit the prison, called for shutting down the facility and adopting smaller, regional youth prisons. Governor Evers has delayed that plan, saying the timetable was too aggressive. It is better to be ready than to be rushed, but the failing to file criminal charges hardly means everything is OK at Lincoln Hills.