The Southeast Regional Care Center for Youth, known as SERC, will house up to 32 boys in the custody of the state Department of Corrections. The $65.6 million center includes classrooms, a gym, medical and dental services, spaces for woodworking and welding, and a greenhouse with raised garden beds. Many residents are expected to come from the Milwaukee area, making visits easier for families than at Lincoln Hills, the youth prison in Irma, hours away.

Evers called the center a milestone in changing how Wisconsin handles youth incarceration, while cautioning that more work remains. He said the state should continue modernizing its corrections system and close the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools permanently.

Those institutions have faced years of allegations of abuse and unsafe conditions affecting young people and staff. Earlier this year, a federal judge ended mandatory oversight after the Department of Corrections was found to be in substantial compliance with reforms required under a 2018 class-action settlement. State lawmakers have spent years planning to close the 500-bed Lincoln Hills facility, convert it to an adult prison and establish smaller youth centers closer to residents’ homes.

The new Milwaukee center is designed to be secure while looking and operating more like a school than a traditional prison, DOC Secretary Jared Hoy said. The building has a metal-detector entry and secured residential areas, but no guard towers or barbed wire. Residents will have individual rooms, a shared common area, phones and video-visiting kiosks.

Hoy said the first group of boys is expected in November, with additional residents arriving over the following months. The department has hired staff and held two graduating classes, with another training class expected in November. The agency has also focused on staff-to-youth ratios and created wellness spaces, he said, responding to staffing shortages that have affected Lincoln Hills and other DOC facilities.

Youth counselor Kashunda Brown, who grew up on Milwaukee’s North Side, said her background and experience as a parent could help her build trust with residents. She described the activities at SERC as ways for boys to develop skills they can use after leaving the facility. Being separated from family is itself a punishment, she said, and the center should offer opportunities beyond that.

A second Type 1 youth facility is under construction in Dane County, designed for 32 boys and eight girls. The DOC is also seeking a third center in northern Wisconsin. Hoy said multiple facilities could help the department share and cross-train staff, while serving young people closer to their communities.

The Milwaukee center’s programming and design are intended to support rehabilitation, but its opening is only one part of the state’s longer transition away from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake. Evers said the facility is a first step, not a conclusion, in reforming juvenile corrections.