7-10-17 lincoln hills officers go “between the lines”

For the first time since the FBI launched an investigation into allegations of inmate abuse at the hands of correctional officers at the Lincoln Hills juvenile prison, officers are speaking out.    Youth counselors Kal Teske and Rita Lokemoen spoke exclusively on AM 1170’s Between the Lines program.  Teske suffered a concussion when he was attacked by an inmate earlier this month.  Testke says the incident happened in the kitchen area when the inmate disobeyed his orders to sit down and eat his food.  Testke says  when he pressed his body alarm the boy jumped on him and began repeatedly hitting him in the head.  “He jumped on me and started hitting me multiple times in the head.  All I could do was to grab him and try to hold him because right now we’re being portrayed as child abusers and we are far from being child abusers at Lincoln Hills,”  Teske told Between the Lines.   Teske says he was reluctant to defend himself given all of the negative  publicity and FBI  investigation into alleged abuse of inmates by officers.  Teske and fellow officer Rita Lokemoen say youth violence against the officers is a constant threat at Lincoln Hills.  “Right now I fear for my life going back into that institution,”  Teske said.  “We are responsible for not only protecting ourselves and our partners but we have to also intervene when youth are fighting one another, and that is happening almost daily  multiple times during the week,”  Lokemoen said.  Lokemoen says just recently three kids escaped from their cells  before they were captured on prison grounds.   Teske says staff morale at Lincoln Hills is terrible.  ” For the last two years multiple staff has quit or retired because they are fearing for their life because basically they’re not protecting us, we are not protected up there,”  Teske said.  “The youth can basically do whatever they want.  They are running the institution, not us.”