External audit and corrective action plan prompt changes at Milwaukee County Jail amid continuing family concerns

A final report from Creative Corrections and a corrective action plan presented to the Milwaukee County Board’s Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee on June 17 detailed a series of operational changes at the Milwaukee County Jail intended to reduce in‑custody harm and improve suicide prevention.

The report, delivered by Creative Corrections’ Steve Spalding and introduced by Milwaukee County Director of Audits Jennifer Folliard, summarized work that began after a request for proposals in February 2024 and an external correctional management review that began in October 2024. The county board authorized a contract with Creative Corrections in mid‑2024 and the vendor delivered an initial written audit in December 2024 and a follow‑up corrective action plan, or CAP, that auditors and jail leadership described to the committee on June 17.

The CAP targeted more than 40 specific deficiencies across suicide prevention, medical and mental health care, security, training and supervision. Creative Corrections highlighted several completed changes, including the elimination of restraint benches for people on suicide watch, placing those individuals in designated observation cells within an hour of booking, added mental‑health–led suicide prevention training for staff, weekly interdisciplinary case reviews, updated post orders for housing staff, increased supervisory rounds and a launched internal, perpetual audit program. “This CAP report is not just a checklist, it’s a roadmap for reform,” Spalding told the committee.

Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and jail leadership described the audit as a catalyst that helped restart stalled reforms. Sheriff Ball said the office “is pleased with the progress” and that cooperation with the vendor helped drive changes. Director Joshua Briggs and Captain Talia Evans outlined specific operational fixes: electronically stored post orders; new accountability procedures for restraint equipment and tools; added inmate counts (four times daily for certain populations, including a new third‑shift count); weekly audits of logs and use‑of‑force incidents; and two supervisors assigned to specialized housing units with additional training.

The report and jail staff also listed work still underway or needing county support: retrofitting suicide‑watch cells and removing restraint benches in booking areas; replacing cell doors and relocating light switches in a specialized mental‑health housing unit (projected costs cited in committee testimony included roughly $8,000 per door and about $67,000 to rewire switches for 19 cells); procuring upgraded protective gear (a quote cited by staff was about $76,000); implementing a key‑watcher system dependent on county facilities locksmith availability; and completing a tool‑accountability rollout that requires facilities maintenance to prepare individualized tool kits for the jail.

Jail and vendor presenters reported some measurable improvements in the short term. Creative Corrections and jail leadership said use‑of‑force incidents fell (the report cites a 46 percent reduction over the audit period) and that post orders, training and supervision changes are in place. Jail mental‑health staff said intake screening and clinician involvement in suicide‑watch decisions have increased, and that mental‑health signage and materials are now available in English and Spanish.

Despite those changes, more than a dozen members of the public — including the families of people who died while held at the jail, former inmates, community advocates and a state lawmaker — told the committee problems remain. Testimony described long waits for mental‑health beds at state facilities such as Mendota, delayed or denied care while in custody, sanitation and hygiene problems, limits on visitation and video‑only contact, and what several speakers called an ongoing culture of demeaning and punitive treatment inside the facility. “My son is still in there sick, declining,” one parent said about delays in securing a state hospital bed. Carrie Herdy, the mother of Sylvia Furian (who died in the jail on Dec. 16, 2022), said: “My daughter was only 20 years old.”

Advocacy groups urged stronger ongoing oversight. James Stein, deputy advocacy director at the ACLU of Wisconsin, said a policy‑and‑paper “clean bill of health” from an audit can be misleading if lived experiences inside the jail do not improve. Emily Sturck of Milwaukee Turners and other community speakers asked for a civilian oversight board with independent investigative power and budget transparency. State Representative Ryan Clancy, appearing online, said he plans to introduce state legislation he described as intended to compel transparency and to allow county boards to administer jails, citing repeated refusals by sheriff’s offices statewide to allow elected officials to see populated residential areas.

Committee members asked jail leadership for additional details about staffing and cost. Jail testimony reported 225 budgeted correctional officer positions, about 169 funded officers on payroll and roughly 145 officers currently available to work (some on leave or otherwise unavailable). Committee members also asked for cost estimates for the additional 52 correctional positions requested by the sheriff’s office and about timelines for the capital projects staff flagged; those per‑position cost figures were not provided at the meeting.

The committee took no formal vote on the audit or on the corrective action plan. Presenters treated the briefing as informational; committee members and county staff said work will continue. Several supervisors said the audit and subsequent CAP represent a beginning and flagged the need for sustained leadership, oversight and funding to embed the changes described by Creative Corrections and jail leadership.

The meeting record shows multiple requests from supervisors that the jail and county departments continue dialogue with community stakeholders and with oversight bodies such as the Community Justice Council, and that staff return with additional cost estimates and implementation timelines for the projects that depend on county facilities and capital funding.

Ending: The committee’s review of the Creative Corrections CAP emphasized short‑term operational changes — training, revised post orders and intake screening — while public commenters and advocates pressed for sustained oversight, faster access to mental‑health placements and accountability for in‑custody deaths. Jail leaders and the vendor described measurable early gains but acknowledged unfinished capital work, equipment needs and staffing shortfalls that county policymakers will have to resolve to sustain reforms.