Milwaukee

After three years on the job, the Milwaukee County official who oversees juvenile justice finds his system at a crossroads. The Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill last March closing two youth prisons after a criminal probe and multiple lawsuits alleged abuse and neglect of youth, alarming lawmakers.

In January, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections would gradually shutter two juvenile facilities beleaguered by rampant use of solitary confinement and chemical restraints. Late last month, the state legislature made that official in law, and put a clock on the process to ensure that closing Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls did not drag on.

A year ago, the Juvenile Law Center and the ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) over conditions at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency announced three projects to study the feasibility of pay-for-success (PFS) projects in Connecticut, California and Wisconsin. PFS projects shift the burden of social investment off the government and onto private investors.

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, an organization representing hundreds of nonprofit human services providers, announced two big developments at its national conference in October. It changed its name (from the Alliance for Children and Families), and moved its headquarters from Milwaukee to its policy shop in Washington, D.C.