State officials hope to have juvenile offenders moved out of Lincoln Hills by 2021

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The state took its first step toward shutting down Lincoln Hills on Wednesday. 

The state plans to have all juveniles moved out of the troubled facility by 2021. 

The 25 people appointed by Governor Walker met for the first time today at the Department of Corrections to work toward completely overhauling the state's juvenile corrections system in less than three years. 

The state will create new facilities for the most serious juvenile offenders like murderers. 

Those will still be run by the Department of Corrections. Less serious offenders will go to new residential centers run at the county level with funding from the state. 

The committee needs to determine the rules for building these new facilities and find new evidence-based methods to make sure kids stop committing crimes once they leave the correctional system. 

Wednesday was about getting all the agencies involved on the same page. 

"The process of closing Lincoln Hills and adopting new facilities for youth has begun in earnest today. And so, it's an exciting day," said State Rep. Evan Goyke D-Milwaukee. 

"This is about trying to short-circuit that pathway back, so we don't have these kids reoffending," said State Sen. Wanggaard R-Racine. 

The Committee says they hope to have rules for the county-run facilities finished by the end of the year so local governments can start building them as soon as possible.