DOC discusses jail status at County Board meeting

SHELL LAKE - Discussion about the Washburn County Jail situation continued at the County Board meeting Tuesday, June 16, when Brad Hoover of the Department of Corrections (DOC) came with an update.

Hoover had met with the Law Enforcement/Emergency Management Committee earlier this month to discuss where the county is headed regarding the jail. A few years ago, the DOC had approached the full board with concern over non-compliance at the jail when it came to inmate classifications, housing, security and inefficiencies. The committee suggested Hoover meet again with the full board for further discussion.

Last Tuesday night, Hoover gave a status update to talk about how the jail situation got to where it was. He said the last several years, the jail had been in violation of mixing classifications of inmates. There are now 17 mandated classifications.

“You can’t house inmates mixed classifications in a dormitory or cell,” Hoover said, adding that Washburn County Jail was doing that previously.

In fall 2024, the county came up with the plan to house inmates in other counties so they were compliant with the standards.

Hoover said that other jails in Wisconsin that were built years ago (the jail in Shell Lake, which is the county seat, was built in 1991) are struggling, as well.

“The issues in Washburn County aren’t specific to just Washburn County,” he said.

The state had to change the classifications over the years to accommodate inmates coming in with mental health issues, highly violent criminals and transgender persons, to name a few. Washburn County has been placing inmates in four counties to comply with these classifications, and Hoover said as long as they continue to remain compliant and don’t mix classifications, the DOC is OK with this. However, he said, if the county wants to continue to do this for the long run, it is up to them to decide whether or not it is feasible.

Hoover said the classifications the DOC is most concerned with when it comes to this county are minimum-, medium- and maximum-security inmates, including juveniles who may be waived into adult court for serious charges. Regardless of the 17 classifications, Hoover said his office mainly looks at mixing the aforementioned three and the other are “not even on my radar right now with you guys.”

Supervisor Clint Stariha said whether it is three or 17 classifications, it isn’t as simple, and it was new to him that the DOC was mainly focusing on minimum, medium or max inmates.

Hoover said the DOC is concerned with the fact that the jail struggles with even meeting the standards for those three classifications.

Washburn County does not have double cells. There are eight-bed dorms and if a jail has one of those with only one maximum-security inmate, the other seven in that cell need to be placed elsewhere or be at the same security level, according to the DOC. Half of Washburn County Jail is single-cell and the other half are dorms.

Hoover said Jail Capt. Gretchen Nielsen’s team has a compliance plan in place.

When asked, Hoover said the 17 classification standards have been in place at since he has been with the DOC, for nine years, and these aren’t just Wisconsin standards. It was only in the last six years the classification issue really came to the DOC’s attention. There are sub-classifications for housing, such as co-conspirators, so there are layers, and the jail has to look at those, as well.

“That’s the areas where they (Washburn County staff) struggle,” Hoover said.

Supervisor Joe Hoy said, “There’s a lot of pressure on Captain Nielsen and her staff. How long will your patience last?”

Hoover said the DOC is fine with housing out-of-county because Washburn County is meeting the minimum standards now.

When asked about juveniles with adult charges, Hoover said those inmates can be sent to a juvenile facility if an agency accepts them, and if they are charged with a serious crime and the facility can separate them from others, they will take them.

“It is something that needs to be considered,” he said.

There is a juvenile facility in Eau Claire that has 15 beds, but they are not required to take other counties’ inmates in if there aren’t beds available, nor do they have to take them at all.

Criminals are tried as adults at age 17 in Wisconsin.

“Youthful offenders are tricky,” Hoover said.

For example, he said, a jail could not house a 50-year-old male in for sexual assault with a juvenile, and often, other facilities won’t take the inmate if they are known to assault staff, have certain medication needs or mental health issues, nor are they obligated to. They are the county’s responsibility.

“They are your inmate,” Hoover said.

Supervisor Scott Perlick, who was newly elected to the County Board this year, asked what has changed from 1991 to now. Hoover said the same standards are in place, but it’s the classifications that changed. Before, he said, the most common inmates in the Washburn County Jail came in for bar fights, operating while intoxicated, drugs or domestic and they didn’t stay there long. Now, counties are dealing with more violent and mental health-related crimes and the average length of stay has increased, which sometimes comes from inmates firing their attorneys or waiting for competency-to-stand-trial hearings. Additionally, he said, dormitory-style housing is going away mainly because counties cannot meet the classification standards, so new jail construction projects are phasing dorms out.

Supervisor Bob Olsgard said he appreciated the DOC’s assurance that Washburn County is compliant by transporting inmates out.

“I do understand that there are some risks in this approach,” he said. “Are we doing the best we can to assure our jail staff … that we are meeting the standard … without over-stressing them?”

Olsgard also noted that even if the board decided to build a new jail now, it would still be around five years before it would be completed.

“It’s very taxing on the staff,” Hoover said of transportation, adding that there are lots of hidden costs. “It really isn’t a long-term (solution) for people.”

Supervisor Sandy Johnson said it was great that the board is able to hear this update and thanked the DOC for their patience.

Hoy asked if any other county has come up with a best practice. Hoover said lots are constructing new jails and they don’t take this matter lightly, though all are struggling with housing inmates out.

“It’s not great,” he said.

Counties also don’t like paying other jails for the expenses associated with housing them elsewhere, but nobody has come up with another solution, he said. A couple of counties have considered a multi-county facility, which Washburn County could certainly do, but “it hasn’t been done in the state of Wisconsin," Hoover said.

Board Chair Lolita Olson said with a multi-county facility, there would have to be considerations over judges presiding and county seats. 


Nielsen said she kept data on transportation and in the last year, they spent $320,000 on housing out-of-county. This includes wages, gas, housing itself, medical needs and commissary.

Stariha said the county has been housing out for many years and are at the mercy of the other counties, even though they can price shop. He said it would be wise to contract with one of them.

Nielsen said she emailed surrounding counties and “they would much rather not have a contract,” as they prefer to keep good working relationships with other sheriff’s departments.

Olson said that under contract, the county would also have to pay for beds even if they weren't used,.

Hoover said now, it is up to the board how far they are willing to travel to transport inmates, especially in the winter. He said he would be more than happy to answer any questions, and Nielsen offered to give new supervisors a tour of the jail.

“This will be an ongoing conversation,” Olson said.

New supervisor appointment

The board appointed a new supervisor to fill the unexpired District 9 term. Supervisor Miles Macone turned in his resignation, and there were two candidates: Jeanne Bruce, who served before, and Fred Hassani.

Before the appointment, during public comment, Maria Plisky, of Spooner and a resident of District 9, said it was disappointing that voters were denied the opportunity to select a supervisor at the April 7 election since the outgoing supervisors resigned in early May. She said that if there was an announcement of the possibility of a resignation, voters could have elected a different representative.

Plisky said the process should have been changed to hold a special election for voters and a public meeting to interview candidates before appointment.

Olson said the rules say the board can determine its own procedure regarding appointments or special elections.

Hassani was then appointed, per Olson’s recommendation, to fill the unexpired term and he took that oath of office.

In other action last Tuesday:

• The county approved a rezone and amendatory ordinance for Mandy Wozny and John Clark of Minong for Frog Creek Township from Industrial to Residential Mobile to keep a mobile home that was placed on their property.
• Board of Adjustment members were appointed.
• Section 16, Zoning Committee, of the County Board Rules of Order was amended.
• The board approved the Birchwood School outdoor classroom.
• The 2026 Snow Trails and ATV budgets were increased for the Trego underpass project.
• The employee handbook section on work hours and compensatory time was updated.
• The board approved one transport officer for the 2027 budget year for the jail.
• The fiscal year 2026 Emergency Government budget was amended due to an Interoperable Radio Grant award.
• Linda Zillmer of the Village of Birchwood spoke during public comment to the recent county workshop, the outdoor classroom and zoning.