Attacks On Staff Continue At Lincoln Hills

Last week, Pandora Lobacz, a teacher at Lincoln Hills School for Boys was attacked by an inmate at Lincoln Hills. During her class, the inmate, who has been involved in prior staff assaults, became agitated and took control of her classroom. After calling security and receiving a busy signal, Pandora was confronted by the inmate who punched her in the face and knocked her out.

Image Of Pandora Lobacz After The Assault

Problems at Lincoln Hills began when Scott Walker closed other juvenile facilities and merged their populations with Lincoln Hills while providing few additional staffing resources.

ACT 10, Walker’s assault on workers rights, exacerbated issues. After the law was passed, a slew of retirements and resignations were filed and staffing vacancy became, and remains, high with existing staff working long hours to make up for shortages. The law also rolled back worker input into safety regulations which has led to less safe facilities as demonstrated by the continuous string of violent assaults on staff.

“Walker has created an environment that is unsafe for workers and the youth at these facilities alike,” said Rick Badger, Executive Director of AFSCME Wisconsin. “We all want to rehabilitate the individuals held at these facilities and to do that we need to hire and retain highly skilled and motivated staff. With the current unsafe working conditions Scott Walker has made doing that impossible.”

Lincoln Hills has a troubled history under the Walker administration, much of which was uncovered by state investigators who had their investigation suspended because “it made the Department of Corrections look bad.”

For more information please contact Michael Horecki ([email protected])