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Report: Troubles At Youth Corrections Facility Extended To Psychology Internship Program

American Psychological Association Investigates Allegations Of Inadequate Supervision, Misconduct

By
Glen Moberg/WPR

Psychology interns at Wisconsin’s youth correctional facilities have raised concerns about inadequate supervision and misconduct in the psychology internship program.

The allegations show another side of the ongoing concerns about conditions at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools, which have been under federal and state investigation over the alleged mistreatment of youth inmates.

Keegan Kyle of USA Today Network-Wisconsin and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported on the allegations, which were part of a review by the American Psychological Association, which evaluates internship programs for psychology students.

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“Twice now, in the past few years, the APA has come into the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls,” Kyle said. “And twice now the APA has walked away from those visits with concerns about how interns are being supervised.”

Interns “felt they had to supervise each other,” because their access to supervisors on staff was limited, Kyle said.

They repeatedly said they weren’t getting enough access to the different types of patients, such as sex offenders or inmates in solitary confinement, that their academic programs required.

Without supervision and access to patients, the interns were worried they wouldn’t be able to, as Kyle described it, “gradually (increase) their responsibilities throughout the internship process so that by the end of their internships (they were) doing work that is similar to what an independent professional would do.”

Some corrections staff, including several former internship program directors, have said the internship system suffered because of high staff workloads and limited training.

The most recent program director, D. Jeremy John, said he’d been given more work than any individual could handle.

But workload is only one of a range of issues raised over those in charge of interns at the facilities.

“In the past two years the internship program has had four different directors,” Kyle said. “The past three have each left amid misconduct investigations, including that they have given erroneous intern ratings — so that they weren’t properly assessing. Another former director was accused of taking pictures of interns in inappropriate contexts.”

The state fired John in December, but he contested the termination and the state agreed last month to characterize it as a resignation instead.

Corrections officials have said the state has made changes to the internship program to address the concerns raised, and the program, which is accredited through 2019, plans to bring on four more interns this fall.

But Kyle said the APA is still reviewing an internship program that the state depends on at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake.

“These interns provide mental health services to a critical population at a lower expense to taxpayers than professionals,” Kyle said. “If the state was to lose these interns, taxpayers would have to go in and hire much more expensive professionals to do the same types of work.”