Copper Lake School Youth Records

Copper Lake School Overview

Copper Lake School is a Wisconsin DOC Division of Juvenile Corrections Type 1 secure juvenile correctional facility in Irma. It serves female youth in DOC custody and is co-located with Lincoln Hills School. The research identifies Copper Lake as a separate facility that operates with sight-and-sound separation from Lincoln Hills. It is in Lincoln County, but the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office does not operate it.

Copper Lake opened in June 2011 after Southern Oaks Girls School closed and female youth in DOC custody moved to the Lincoln Hills campus. That history is useful because many public DOC resources discuss Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake together, while the facility roles differ. Lincoln Hills serves male youth. Copper Lake serves female youth. Both are juvenile DOC facilities, and neither is the adult county jail in Merrill.

The DOC Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake page provides the shared campus resources, including visiting rules, visitor bus schedule, sending money and mail, youth handbook material, transportation requests, and monitor reports.

Those DOC resources should be used before any county jail search because Copper Lake youth are not listed on the adult county roster.

Copper Lake Youth Population

The DOC juvenile population report lists Copper Lake School with a CY 2022 average daily population of 11.6. Its 2018-2022 average is 12.3. These figures are facility population measures, not a daily public roster and not a county jail capacity figure. No current official capacity number for Copper Lake was located on the DOC facility page reviewed here, so the sourced ADP figures are the safest population numbers to use.

Copper Lake's numbers are much smaller than the adult Lincoln County Jail's capacity or live roster counts, but they describe a different custody system. Adult county jail measures count adults held by the sheriff. Copper Lake measures female youth in state juvenile custody. The facility's population should not be combined with adult jail counts when explaining the Lincoln County Jail roster.

Copper Lake Custody Lookup

Copper Lake School is not searched through the Lincoln County Jail current-inmates roster. The county roster is for adult custody at the sheriff-operated jail in Merrill and publicly shows mugshot, name, and arrest date for current adult jail records. Copper Lake is a juvenile DOC facility, so public access to names, placements, youth records, and family contact is handled through DOC juvenile procedures and may be limited by privacy rules.

1. Use the DOC Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake page for current facility resources and contact directions.
2. Route youth-specific questions through DOC juvenile corrections contacts instead of the sheriff's adult jail roster.
3. Use DOC public-record channels for releasable facility records, with review and redaction where required.
4. Use the adult Wisconsin DOC locator only for adult convicted offenders, not for Copper Lake youth.
5. Use the Lincoln County Jail roster only when searching an adult held at the county jail.

Copper Lake School Contact

Copper Lake shares the Irma campus address with Lincoln Hills School. DOC's main public contact is 608-240-5000, and the main DOC mailing address is in Madison. Use the DOC juvenile facility page for campus-specific family resources, visit rules, mail, money, transportation, and monitor reports. The Lincoln County Jail phone can help with adult county jail custody, but it is not the operating contact for Copper Lake School.

Copper Lake Visiting Rules

DOC posts visiting rules and visitor transportation resources for the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake campus. Because Copper Lake serves female youth in secure juvenile custody, its family contact and visiting process is a DOC juvenile process. It is not the Lincoln County Jail HOMEWAV video-visit process, and county jail lobby video times do not control Copper Lake visits.

Approved contacts should verify the current visit schedule, identification rules, transport options, supervision terms, and conduct requirements with DOC before traveling. Juvenile facility visiting rules can change, and youth privacy means public web pages may not answer every family-specific question. Use DOC resources and assigned contacts for case-specific directions.

Copper Lake Mail Money

DOC posts sending-money and mail resources for the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake campus. Use those DOC instructions for a youth at Copper Lake School. Do not use Lincoln County Jail's mail page, JailATM bond posting, Stellar lobby kiosk, or Securus adult jail phone account as the default route for Copper Lake. Those county systems support the adult jail in Merrill.

Mail and funds for youth can involve approval, format rules, sender rules, review, and facility-specific instructions. Because Copper Lake is a secure juvenile facility, the safest practice is to follow DOC's current posted resource and confirm any uncertain item with DOC before sending it. Juvenile privacy and facility security rules can limit what is accepted or disclosed.

Copper Lake Intake Context

Copper Lake intake should not be described as adult booking at the Lincoln County Jail. Youth placement is tied to juvenile court, DOC custody, and secure juvenile facility procedures. Adult county jail terms such as arrest date column, bond kiosk, cash bond, Huber release, and county jail sentence report-in do not explain Copper Lake placement. The correct records framework is DOC juvenile custody and facility-specific rules.

The adult Wisconsin DOC Offender Locator also has a different purpose. It is for convicted adult offenders sentenced to DOC incarceration or supervision. It is not a public Copper Lake youth list. If an adult from a Lincoln County case is sentenced to adult DOC custody, the adult locator may be relevant. If the question concerns a youth at Copper Lake, DOC juvenile resources are the correct path.

Type 1 secure facility

A secure juvenile correctional facility classification used by Wisconsin DOC.

Sight-and-sound separation

Separate operation meant to keep Copper Lake female youth apart from Lincoln Hills male youth.

County roster

The adult current-inmates list for Lincoln County Jail, not a Copper Lake list.

Redaction

Removal of protected information before a public record is released.

About Copper Lake School

Copper Lake School opened in June 2011 after Southern Oaks Girls School closed. Female youth in DOC custody were moved to the Lincoln Hills campus, where Copper Lake operates separately from Lincoln Hills. The two schools share campus resources in DOC public materials, but facility descriptions should preserve the sex-specific roles: Lincoln Hills for male youth, Copper Lake for female youth.

DOC's April 18, 2025 release on the 22nd monitor report covered both Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake for October 2024 through February 2025. DOC stated that the report found an improved atmosphere and substantial compliance with 45 of 50 consent-decree provisions. That context belongs with facility oversight and conditions. It does not create a public roster or adult-style inmate search for Copper Lake youth.