State may place elderly prisoners to save CF facility

April 22, 1998

Plan for Northern Center backed by county, towns

Plan would bring inmates to center

By Janean Marti

Chippewa Falls News Bureau

CHIPPEWA FALLS -- A plan to house geriatric prisoners at Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled could be unveiled by state officials as soon as next month.

The fate of hundreds of jobs at the center, which has a declining population because of increased placements of the developmentally disabled in smaller group homes, could hinge on turning part of the center into a geriatric prison.

The Chippewa County Board, hoping to save some of the 630 jobs and $20 million annual payroll, voted Tuesday to hand-deliver a resolution in support of a forensic geriatric care facility at the center to state officials.

Officials from the departments of Corrections, Administration and Health and Family Services have been developing the concept and working on feasibility and funding issues.

"If they think it can happen, they intend to include it in the biennial budget next February," said Brent Pickens, an aid to state Rep. Tom Sykora, R-Chippewa Falls.

"We are investigating the demographics of the elderly and disabled inmate population and the type of facility and services which would need to be provided," Department of Health and Family Services Secretary Joe Leean said in a letter to Sykora.

Leean said he expects to issue a report soon.

"The fact they hope to have a report for (Chippewa Falls) Mayor Virginia Smith this spring or by summer is a positive," Pickens said.

State officials hope federal funding can be obtained to run the facility.

"We are aggressively exploring the possibility of federal funding from both the experience of other states and federal rules," Leean said.

With its $33 million annual budget and $1.6 million in local business expenditures, the 101-year-old center has been one of the most important and stable employers in the Chippewa Valley.

But center employees and local officials believe once the population of the center, now 258, dips below 100, the state will close the center and move any remaining residents to the Central Wisconsin Center in Dane County.

The Wisconsin Towns Association recently adopted a resolution showing its support for a geriatric prison at the center, Chippewa County Board Supervisor William Secraw said.

Marti can be reached at 723-0303.