Figure out a way for the water to go around instead of under. Wooden sides? Or just burying your chicken wire a few inches so the compost can't flow under it. Its not hopeless but you do have to turn the contents once in a while so a way to open one side it helpful. If you don't have enough leaves, add paper: newspaper, paper towers, paper plates... And heat - add a bag of manure.
I have always had two compost piles. Year 1 I add to Pile 1. At the end of year 1, I add to Pile 2 and let Pile 1 compost. When Pile 1 is ready to move out, use it and start adding to that bin again and let Pile 2 process.
I read an interesting study recently about heating compost with black plastic. My daughter wanted to compost her turtle's litter but she doesn't know if they carry salmonella. Her thought was to supper-heat the turtle littler than add it to the compost pile. But, from my reading, if you super-heat your compost, you kill the salmonella but also all the good bacteria. The first, and often only, bacteria to grow back is salmonella.
Daisy
