Walker's juvenile prison overhaul plan up for vote

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Scott Walker's juvenile justice overhaul plan that calls for closing the troubled Lincoln Hills prison is up for a key committee vote that would make it ready for legislative approval next week.

The bill is up for both a committee hearing and vote on Thursday, an unusual move that speaks to the urgency lawmakers feel to act this year.

Walker wants the Legislature to pass the bill before it adjourns for the year next month.

There is bipartisan support for the measure, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has cautioned that it may not be possible to pass the complex overhaul of the youth prison system this year.

The bill calls for putting the most serious juvenile offenders in state prisons and leaving the counties in charge of housing the rest.