Teen Found Not Guilty of Homicide in Death of Lincoln Hills Guard

A jury in Lincoln County has found Javarius Hurd not guilty of homicide in the June 2024 death of Corey Proulx, a youth counselor at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys. While Hurd was cleared of the most severe charges, he was convicted of one count of battery by prisoners. He now faces a sentencing hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30.

The verdict ends a trial that lasted six days, concluding with nearly three hours of deliberation on Oct. 27. Hurd, who is now 18, was 16 at the time of the incident. Although he was a minor, he was criminally charged as an adult, originally facing counts of second-degree reckless homicide and felony murder.

The struggle in the courtyard

The events leading to the verdict began on June 24, 2024. According to a criminal complaint, the conflict started when Hurd attacked a 25-year-old female guard by throwing soapy water in her face and punching her. Hurd felt this counselor was abusing her power and had been belittling him. Following the initial attack, Hurd fled to an outside courtyard where other youth prisoners were gathered.

Corey Proulx, a 49-year-old counselor, followed Hurd into the courtyard to detain him. During the ensuing struggle, Hurd hit Proulx twice. Proulx fell, striking his head on the pavement. Hurd then climbed a basketball hoop and sat there while Proulx lay injured. Proulx was airlifted to a hospital but died the following day.

The prosecution and defense presented starkly different narratives of Hurd’s state of mind. The state argued that Hurd planned his actions and showed a total disregard for Proulx’s life. Conversely, the defense argued that Hurd was a traumatized 16-year-old with specific triggers who felt the facility’s policies failed to protect him from harassment. The jury ultimately rejected the homicide charges, though they found him guilty of battery against the female counselor.

A system under systemic pressure

The death of Corey Proulx did not happen in a vacuum. It occurred during a period of intense scrutiny for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC). A pattern of instability across the state’s correctional facilities creates a volatile environment for both staff and inmates.

Waupun Correctional Institution: The facility saw eight in-custody deaths between 2023 and 2025.
Green Bay Correctional Institution: This facility experienced two hate crime homicides in 2022 and 2024.
Federal Oversight: In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a probe into a drug and cellphone smuggling conspiracy at Waupun.

This environment of staffing shortages has led prison workers to distance themselves from DOC leadership. During an eight-hour state Senate hearing in August 2024, colleagues and family members of Proulx argued that leadership was aware of documented safety concerns long before the fatal encounter at Lincoln Hills.

The long road to reform at Lincoln Hills

The facility where the incident occurred has been a flashpoint for controversy for over a decade. Allegations of abuse at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys reached lawmakers as early as 2012, triggering state and federal investigations by 2015. The state has been attempting to close both Lincoln Hills and the Copper Lake School for Girls since 2018, but these plans have faced repeated delays.

The “so what” of this case extends beyond the verdict for one teenager. This shows a critical failure in the state's juvenile justice infrastructure. When facilities are plagued by chronic understaffing and outdated safety protocols, the risk of escalation increases for everyone involved. For the staff, it is a matter of workplace survival; for the youth, it is a matter of rehabilitation versus further trauma.

To address these gaps, the state is moving toward regionalization. A new youth prison for boys, the Southeast Regional Care Center for Youth in Milwaukee, is expected to open in the coming weeks, with another facility currently under construction in Dane County.

Rian Nyblom pleaded guilty for assisting Hurd

While Hurd was the primary actor in the physical struggle, he was not the only one involved. Another inmate, Rian Nyblom, pleaded guilty to two counts of being a party to battery. Nyblom admitted to providing Hurd with the soap and conditioner used in the initial attack on the female guard. He was sentenced to five years in prison this past August.

The legal distinction made by the jury—convicting Hurd of battery but not homicide—suggests a finding that while Hurd’s actions were criminal and violent, they did not meet the legal threshold for reckless homicide. Hurd now faces a maximum of six years in prison on the remaining battery charge.

The case remains a grim reminder of the warnings issued by prison workers. Before Proulx’s death, staff had explicitly told Wisconsin lawmakers that severe staffing shortages could lead to a deadly outcome. Then it did.

Keep reading