(Madison, WI) -- The state says a small group of teenage inmates are causing most of the trouble at Lincoln Hills -- while lawyers for the inmates say the states does not have enough staff and programs.
Both sides outlined their contentions to Federal Judge James Peterson of Madison, who's hearing a lawsuit into numerous problems at the state's boys and girls institutions at Irma in Lincoln County.
State attorneys told Peterson that those causing the trouble might have to go to treatment facilities -- including one who pepper sprayed a guard.
The judge ordered in July that the state reduced its use of pepper spray, handcuffs, and solitary confinement -- but workers say the conditions got especially unsafe after that, and Peterson gave both sides until Friday to spell out the conditions as they see them.
