Judge, Walker Respond To Lincoln Hills Attacks By Inmates

Governor Scott Walker wants an interim superintendent to run the state’s troubled juvenile institutions in Lincoln County. Both the governor and Federal Judge James Peterson issued responses to Sunday’s pair of assaults by teen inmates at Lincoln Hills that sent five staffers to a hospital. Walker told corrections’ chief Jon Litscher to hire somebody to replace Wendy Peterson, who stepped down and took a voluntary demotion at the facility in August. Judge Peterson, who ordered reductions in using pepper spray, handcuffs, and solitary confinements in July, said he would not ignore inmates’ or staffers’ safety — and he wants the state and the A-C-L-U to submit updates on the boys and girls’ schools by November tenth. Also, a corrections’ spokesman denied claims that Sunday’s incidents, in which inmates damaged property while confined to their rooms, was a “test” of how staffers might respond to a larger disturbance.