Residents express frustration about plans for proposed youth prison in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A public meeting was held Thursday, after the state announced plans to build a youth detention facility in Milwaukee, as part of the process to close Lincoln Hills. 

Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton organized the meeting. He said the State had not discussed the plans with people living in the area where they've proposed the facility. 

According to a press release from Governor Tony Evers Tuesday, the a Type 1 Facility will be located in Milwaukee at the intersection of Teutonia and Mill Road.

The conversation during the meeting Thursday, was centered around the state's announcement Tuesday, and what many said was a lack of conversation about those plans ahead of time. 

"Raise your hand, people, if you were invited to a meeting about what the State is proposing for your community. Raise your hand," said Hamilton. 

"I apologize, personally, for not having this meeting prior to the announcement," said Kevin Carr with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. 

In the crowd were Milwaukee and Glendale residents and local and state representatives. Mayor Tom Barrett was also in attendance. 

"Whose bright idea was it to take an already depressed part of town and put a prison in it?" one person asked. 

There were questions about the location, who would be there, and what it would look like. Mayor Barrett told the crowd, there would be 32 beds and that it would be set up with four, eight bed pods for serious juvenile offenders. 

Some who spoke expressed anger and frustration about not only the site, but what criminal justice should look like. 

A conversation that ended, with questions remaining. 

Carr said while the site has been selected, the sale has not gone through.