A retired union steward at Wisconsin’s youth prison says he was surprised that no charges were brought against management at Lincoln Hills. Prosecutors announced last Friday that a federal investigation found insufficient evidence that staff members at Lincoln Hills School used unreasonable force against inmates repeatedly. Doug Curtis says he wasn’t surprised that charges were not filed against staff members, but says he is surprised that the investigation uncovered no wrongdoing by prison management. “I expected some members of management to be charged,” Curtis told AM 1170s Between the Lines program. “I knew that the staff was not going to be charged with anything because I worked up there for 20 years. I’ve never seen any of this stuff.” Problems at the youth prison near Irma have been building for years. Curtis says it got worse following the passage of Act 10 when prison youth counselors were stripped of their collective bargaining rights. The FBI launched the investigation in 2015.
