Posted on: Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Editorial
Inmates found innocent deserve prompt release

When O. J. Simpson was acquitted of double murder in 1995, Judge Lance Ito ordered his release and the football legend was promptly driven home to his Brentwood mansion, a free man.

Here on O'ahu, people found innocent of far lesser crimes are going from the courtroom back to jail pending completion of paperwork required for their release. This can take several hours or even days.

Not surprisingly, that irks the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, which has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that many individuals at the O'ahu Community Corrections Center are held in holding cells, and even shackled and strip-searched, after they've been acquitted.

The suit seeks a court order to stop the delay in freeing innocent inmates and bring them financial compensation.

State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai says acquitted inmates must return to jail to clear routine background checks prior to a final court approval for their release. That would be fine if it only took a couple of hours and could be concluded in the ordinary course of a day's business, but that's not usually the case, according to the ACLU.

Returning inmates to jail for a brief period to pick up their personal belongings and complete exit paperwork makes sense. But delaying their freedom while awaiting court orders seems unnecessary and even cruel.

Here's something to think about: If an acquitted person walked away from prison while he waited for the paperwork to be completed, could he be charged with escape?

Whether we like the verdict or not, once the court finds a defendant innocent, that defendant should be free to go home. The paperwork is the justice system's responsibility, not the defendant's.

Moreover, the system penalizes the least affluent, because they're more likely to be unable to post bail because they're the ones forced into custody as they await trial.

The state should heed the outcome of similar cases on the Mainland. One such case in Los Angeles County resulted in a $27 million settlement. As a result of that settlement, inmates there are released directly from court or within eight hours.

The state of Hawai'i doesn't need a multimillion-dollar judgment for something as unnecessary as detaining for the sake of bureaucratic convenience inmates who have been declared innocent.