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some issues dealing with
utility costs in the spring,

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which I know are a big
hassle for people. We're

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going to focus on property
taxes. We've dealt with

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crime in many ways, so I
think we've done a good job,

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but there's always more
>> All right. Speaker Vos,

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thanks for your time.
state mandated deadline to

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close them has long since
passed and been extended.

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They're to be replaced with
a new youth prison in

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Milwaukee, set to open this
year, and county based

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secure residential care
centers. The footage you're

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about to see could be
disturbing. Just after the

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first such care center
opened in Racine County

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last spring, the state
public defender's office

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learned of an incident
shown on camera. Where a 15

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year old housed in the
Jonathan Delagrave Youth

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Development and Care Center
was punched repeatedly by

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adult security workers.
Staff was asking the boy to

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return to his room and he
can be heard saying, don't

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touch me. The boy's family
has retained a civil

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attorney and the office of
Representative Angelina

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Cruz told us she is working
to learn more about the

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incident, with the possible
intention of having the

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governor's office
investigate the facility.

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For its part. In a
statement to the

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Administrator of Youth
Rehabilitation Services for

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Racine County, said
situations like this are

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complex and unfold quickly,
and said we maintain our

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commitment to ensuring that
staff have the training,

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oversight and support
needed to manage difficult

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situations appropriately
and professionally. The

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Racine County D.A. declined
to prosecute the security

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staffers, but how does this
kind of treatment of a

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youth offender in trouble
for retail theft? Square

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with best practices. We
turn to the youth defense

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practice coordinator in the
state public Defender's

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office, Eileen Fredericks,
and thanks very much for

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being here.
>> So when you first saw

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this footage from cameras
inside the facility, what

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was your reaction?
>> I was horrified. I had

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known that there were these
allegations, but obviously

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I didn't know the extent of
them. So when I saw them, I

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was shocked to see that,
you know, right out of the

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gates, this facility
opening in May and having

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this happen, it was so
disappointing and upsetting

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to know that this is kind
of the result of, you know,

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the Lincoln Hills incidents
and all the problems there.

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Now we have this new
facility opening and the

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same problems seem to still
be there.

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>> Is this kind of incident
a rarity, do you think,

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behind the doors of these
facilities?

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>> I mean, research across
the country would suggest

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that it isn't that, you
know, that the punitive

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nature of these
correctional facilities and

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how they the power dynamic
and these vulnerable youth,

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that abuse is a major issue
in these facilities. And I

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do think that, you know,
the culture obviously isn't

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what we need it to be. It's
not seen as a treatment

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facility. It's a it's a
jail essentially for kids.

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And with that attitude, I
think the staff thinks of

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it that way and they're not
necessarily trained in a

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treatment mindset. They're
not trained to de-escalate

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situations. They're not
trained to recognize in

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themselves when they're
becoming, you know,

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dysregulated and struggling
obviously seem to be the

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case in in this situation.
>> Because this facility,

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when it talks about itself,
it talks about that kind of

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care and support, but it
looks just like a

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correctional facility.
>> Yes. And I think that,

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you know, when they built
this, they, you know, had

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all this beautiful ideas
about what it was going to

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look like, but they did not
really, I think, have a

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treatment focus like they
could have. I think that

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they had already they
already had a facility in

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Racine that was housing
kids long term, and they

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had that just kind of moved
to this nice new building

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in hopes that it would kind
of just carry itself. But

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the culture and the staff
and the ideas that the

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workers are coming with are
really what drive how how

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the kids respond, right,
that they have that they

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have the support that they
need, that they're building

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relationships, that they
want to help the kids, that

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they see the kids as kids
and not as criminals or

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inmates.
>> You've touched on this a

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little bit, but why does
this kind of volatile

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violence inside these
facilities persist?

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>> I do think it's a
cultural thing, and I think

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that they they just are not
basically coming from a

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treatment model to begin
with that they're kind of

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like, this is a
correctional facility. This

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is a prison for kids. They
call the school. But you

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know, everything about it
kind of screams like it's

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more we're just controlling
these kids, not we're

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actually trying to
rehabilitate them. And so

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there are residential
treatment centers in the

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state that actually are
built around a model of

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treatment, and they are
much more, I think, working

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on, you know,
rehabilitating and building

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relationships and providing
therapy and doing

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assessments and seeing what
needs the kids have and

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then responding to those
needs. Where I think that

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this is a setting where
it's a much more one size

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fits all. And really they
don't have the, you know,

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the goal of getting to the
bottom of kind of what was

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going on. They're more just
trying to hold them for the

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time that they, you know,
keep them out of the

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community for the time that
they feel is appropriate

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and is allowable under the
law.

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>> As additional facilities
open, including the one in

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Milwaukee. How might this
incident in Racine inform

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the treatment and care of
juvenile offenders?

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>> They need to really look
at these best practices.

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They need to be very
careful about how they're

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staffing these places. They
need to have a leadership

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that is empathetic, that is,
you know, positive in their

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mindset toward these kids
and really be focused on

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making sure that they hire
people who have who kind of

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demonstrate a positive
culture in the facility.

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That does not seem to
happen in Racine. And I

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think that, you know, just
even that there was four

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people involved in this
incident. I mean, I work

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with those kids every day
and like, they are, you

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know, 95% of the time,
absolutely regulated and

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can be very calm. I mean,
there are some extreme

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examples where kids are
really out of control, you

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know, but these kids do not
need to be treated like

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animals. It needs to be
that everybody kind of is

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like, you know, eyes on and
expecting of each other

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that they're treating these
kids with care and