Judge rejects GOP call to give Wisconsin youth prison counselors more freedom to punish inmates

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected Republican legislators' calls to give counselors at Wisconsin's troubled youth prison more leeway in controlling and punishing inmates after a counselor was killed during a fight at the facility this summer.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson sent a letter Tuesday to state Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Van Wanggaard and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers telling them if they want changes at Lincoln Hills-Copper Lake Schools they should file a formal legal motion and need to show current restrictions on counselors are endangering staff and inmates.

The youth prison in northern Wisconsin has been plagued by allegations of staff-on-inmate abuse, including excessive use of pepper spray, restraints and strip searches.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in 2017 demanding improvements at the prison. Then-Gov. Scott Walker's administration settled the case in 2018 by agreeing to a consent decree that prohibits punitive confinement, restricts confinement to 12 hours, limits the use of mechanical restraints to handcuffs and prohibits the use of pepper spray.

A group of GOP lawmakers led by Wanggaard have been pushing to relax the consent decree since counselor Corey Proulx was killed in June. According to a criminal complaint, Proulx fell and hit his head on concrete pavement after a 16-year-old male inmate punched him in the face. He was pronounced brain-dead two days later.

Wanggaard and other Republicans sent a letter on Aug. 16 to Evers, Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy and U.S. District Judge James Peterson complaining that the consent decree's restrictions have made the youth prison more dangerous for staff and inmates. The Republicans asked Hoy to ask Peterson to reconsider the prohibitions.

Evers wrote his own letter to Peterson on Aug. 14 urging the judge to leave the consent decree alone. He reminded Peterson that brutal staff-on-youth punishments led to the restrictions in the first place and said conditions at the prison have been slowly improving since Proulx's death. After learning of the governor's letter, Wanggaard sent another letter on Aug. 16 to Peterson saying the governor's letter was political rhetoric.

Peterson wrote in his letter Tuesday that the consent decree has been in place for six years and it's unfortunate that Proulx had to die to get state officials' attention.

He went on to say that the way to demand change is through a legal motion, which would give all parties involved in the case a chance to weigh in.

The judge warned anyone who might consider filing such a motion that the U.S. Constitution sets minimum standards for treating inmates “beyond which lie cruelty and barbarism.” He noted that the consent decree does allow the use of handcuffs and confinement to protect anyone from harm and he'd like to see evidence that the restrictions pose a risk to youth or staff.

Wanggaard said in an email to The Associated Press on Wednesday morning that he'll continue to push for “responsible training and tools” at the youth prison and criticized Evers for not authorizing Hoy to demand Peterson revisit the consent decree.

Asked if GOP legislators might file a motion themselves, Wanggaard aide Scott Kelly said that the Legislature isn't a party in the case and Wanggaard hadn't discussed with him or other lawmakers joining it. Kelly threw the problem back at Evers, saying the governor could direct Hoy to seek revisions to the consent decree and improve policies at the youth prison.

Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback and Department of Corrections spokesperson Beth Hardtke didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday morning.

This story has been updated to correct the date of the governor's letter to the judge to Aug. 14, not Aug. 16.

Judge rejects GOP call to give Wisconsin youth prison counselors more freedom to punish inmates

Judge rejects GOP call to give Wisconsin youth prison counselors more freedom to punish inmates

FILE - This aerial photo shows Lincoln Hills juvenile prison on Dec. 10, 2015, in Irma, Wis. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data.

Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as liberal, compared with two decades ago when about 3 in 10 identified that way.

For many young women, their liberal identity is not just a new label. The share of young women who hold liberal views on the environment, abortion, race relations and gun laws has also jumped by double digits, Gallup found.

Young women "aren’t just identifying as liberal because they like the term or they’re more comfortable with the term, or someone they respect uses the term,” said Lydia Saad, the director of U.S. social research at Gallup. “They have actually become much more liberal in their actual viewpoints."

Becoming a more cohesive political gtoup with distinctly liberal views could turn young women into a potent political force, according to Saad. While it is hard to pinpoint what is making young women more liberal, they now are overwhelmingly aligned on many issues, which could make it easier for campaigns to motivate them.

Young women are already a constituency that has leaned Democratic — AP VoteCast data shows that 65% of female voters under 30 voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — but they are sometimes less reliable when it comes to turnout.

Young women began to diverge ideologically from other groups, including men between 18 and 29, women over 30 and men over 30, during Democrat Barack Obama's presidency. That trend appears to have accelerated more recently, around the election of Republican Donald Trump, the #MeToo movement and increasingly successful efforts by the anti-abortion movement to erode abortion access. At the same time, more women, mostly Democrats, were elected to Congress, as governor and to state legislatures, giving young women new representation and role models in politics.

The change in young women's political identification is happening across the board, Gallup found, rather than being propelled by a specific subgroup.

Taylor Swift's endorsement Tuesday of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, after her debate against Trump, illustrated one of the issues where young women have moved to the left. In Swift's Instagram announcing the endorsement praised Harris and running mate Tim Walz for championing reproductive rights.

The Gallup analysis found that since the Obama era, young women have become nearly 20 percentage points more likely to support broad abortion rights. There was a roughly similar increase in the share of young women who said protection of the environment should be prioritized over economic growth and in the share of young women who say gun laws should be stricter.

Now, Saad said, solid majorities of young women hold liberal views on issues such as abortion, the environment, and gun laws.

Young women are "very unified on these issues ... and not only do they hold these views, but they are dissatisfied with the country in these areas, and they are worried about them,” she said. That, she added, could help drive turnout.

“You've got supermajorities of women holding these views," she said, and they are "primed to be activated to vote on these issues."

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman in London contributed to this report.

Signs for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are posted in Jarvis Square ahead of the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

FILE - Taylor Swift arrives at the world premiere of the concert film "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)