Patrick Marley, and John Diedrich

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Guards at Wisconsin's youth prison complex frequently used pepper spray on teen inmates who broke minor rules in recent months, nearly two years after prosecutors began investigating the facility for child abuse, an attorney representing inmates suing the state said Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges guards at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls shifted from physically grabbing and tackling teen inmates to routinely blasting them with pepper spray and continuing a practice of extensively using solitary confinement.

“The way we, Wisconsin, are treating these children is not just illegal, not just wrong, it is immoral,” said Larry Dupuis, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.

The ACLU of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center brought the federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of four inmates and their parents. They are seeking class-action status so they can represent all of the approximately 170 inmates there.

Most of the inmates come from Milwaukee. The prison is 30 miles north of Wausau, more than three hours from southeastern Wisconsin.

Meranda Davis and Jon Marvin Levy, whose daughter was sent to Copper Lake for stealing a car, said their daughter had done wrong and needs treatment, but she is being hurt by the harsh conditions that are part of daily life in the facility.

"She has big hopes and she is the reason I am standing here right now," Davis said as she spoke to reporters. "I want her changed. I don't want to see her come out a wicked person times 10."

The lawsuit is the latest sign of trouble for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, and the complaint alleges problems have continued despite scrutiny by state and federal officials. The facilities have been under criminal investigation for child abuse and neglect for two years, but prosecutors have not said whether or when they might file charges.

The plaintiffs argue the heavy use of solitary confinement and pepper spray violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment's guarantee of due process. Some inmates are confined to 7-foot-by-10-foot cells for months at a time, the lawsuit says. They typically get out for just an hour or two a day but during that time they are on a belt held by guards or chained to a desk, Dupuis said.

“The U.N. might call it torture and I would say the U.N. knows a thing or two about torture,” Dupuis said.

"If I locked my son in his room for a day, a week or a month, it would be called child abuse," added Jessica Feierman, associate director of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.

The lawsuit does not seek to close the facility, but rather asks U.S. District Judge James Peterson to issue an injunction requiring reforms and safeguards. It also seeks attorney's fees and "any other relief" the judge determines is appropriate.

The state already has settled with an inmate whose toes were smashed in a door by a guard, avoiding litigation in that case. Part of two of the inmate's toes were amputated. The state paid $300,000.

Attorney General Brad Schimel, who has been involved in investigating Lincoln Hills, will not defend the state, according to Gov. Scott Walker’s office. The state will instead have to hire private attorneys.

Dupuis said inmates are routinely put in solitary confinement or hit with pepper spray for rule violations, including minor ones. In a visit to the prison in October, Dupuis said he witnessed a boy being sprayed and tackled because he wouldn’t take off his shoes. He said it appeared the teen was handcuffed.

Another inmate said such incidents are routine. Attorneys also received a video showing guards yanking an inmate's head up as they tried to get him in a van.

When ACLU attorneys visit prisons and ask questions, guards and officials typically make sure nothing improper happens, Dupuis said. That was not the case during their visit to Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, which Dupuis, a veteran civil rights attorney, found shocking.

“There was no significant change that we were able to see,” Dupuis said of conditions at the facility. He noted they returned a few more times and continued to see similar conditions.

Spokesmen for Walker and the Department of Corrections declined to comment Tuesday on the lawsuit.

In the past, state officials have contended they turned Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake around during the past year by installing more surveillance cameras, equipping staff with body cameras, enhancing training and requiring nurses — rather than guards — to dispense medication to inmates.

Walker has never visited Lincoln Hills and said in December he hadn't toured it because "you're going to see what people want you to see there." The prison is run by his administration.

"Governor Walker is confident in (Corrections Secretary) Jon Litscher’s ability to reform and lead this agency. There are no plans to visit the facility," Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said Tuesday by email.

A Racine judge wrote to Walker in 2012 alerting him to an inmate who was sexually assaulted but didn't receive treatment for hours because the staff was supervising a basketball game. Walker's staff said the governor's office received the letter but Walker himself did not see it.

The lawsuit names Litscher and top prison officials, but not Walker. Dupuis said that is because the lawsuit seeks an injunction targeting the people responsible for the complex's day-to-day operation, though he said Walker ultimately is responsible.

"This happened on Governor Walker’s watch, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s still happening on Governor Walker’s watch," Dupuis said.

CONTINUING COVERAGE: Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools scandal

RELATED: Facing problems, Missouri revamped juvenile justice

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation last month found that state officials missed repeated warning signs at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake. Contributing to the problems were lax management, confusion over policies, a lack of communication and chronic staff shortages.

U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil has said the criminal investigation headed by the FBI remains active.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also reviewing whether there has been a pattern and practice of civil rights violations. It is unclear when the agency will determine whether to file its own lawsuit over how the prison operates.

“If I had any reason to believe that was imminent, we may have held off,” Dupuis said.