American Psychological Association Puts Copper Lake/Lincoln Hills Intern Program On Probation

The American Psychological Association has put an internship program at two troubled youth prisons in Wisconsin on probation.

The action may make it harder for the Department of Corrections to keep the program accredited because when a program is on probation, the APA reviews the program again one to two years later. If improvements aren’t made, the APA can revoke its accreditation.

It may also make it harder for the Copper Lake School for Girls and Lincoln Hills School for Boys to attract new interns to their combined campus in Irma, north of Wausau.

Among the concerns raised by the APA are excessive caseloads for staff psychologists and inadequate supervision.

Doug Curtis, a former youth counselor, patrol officer and union representative at the institution, said the psychology interns play a vital role there.

“The interns, God bless them, take up a big portion of the workload. They’re young, they’re enthusiastic, they’re ready to step in and do the job,” Curtis said.

But Curtis said the interns can’t make up for a serious shortage of staff psychologists, based on conditions he witnessed there before he retired a year ago.

“Sometimes as many as three different cottages were served by a single psychologist. That’s upwheres of 90 kids,” Curtis said. “65 percent of the kids up there need mental health attention. And they’re just not getting it. We don’t have the staff.”

State Department of Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said the state has already addressed the concerns of the APA through “many reforms that have taken place under the leadership of Dr. Tracy Johnson and Dr. Melissa Parent” who were appointed last year to run mental health services at the prison.

“Moving forward, we will continue to look for opportunities to further improve the internship program and mental health services to youth,” Cook said in an e-mail.

He said the DOC would take the necessary steps to ensure that the internship program retains APA accreditation.

A federal investigation of conditions at the youth prison continues. Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake have also been named in multiple lawsuits filed over treatment of inmates.