MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker’s administration says it has made “significant progress” in meeting a federal court order to make broad changes in Wisconsin’s youth prisons. But a state attorney said in a court filing Tuesday that “significant unrest” at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile prisons since the court order in June made it impossible to immediately comply. The use of pepper spray at the prisons has actually risen since U.S. District Judge James Peterson ordered the state in June to reduce its use. Pepper spray was deployed 10 times in June, but 27 times in July and 36 times in August. The prisons for boys and girls are located in Irma, north of Wausau, and are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation into prison abuse and child neglect.
