State to take back Kailua girls' lockup
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Because of issues raised by the August breakout by 10 teenage girls from the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility, the state will terminate its contract with the private company operating the Kailua facility, state and company officials said yesterday.
Susan Chandler, director of the Department of Human Services, said the state will take over supervision of the 15 girls from the company, Child & Family Service, which had begun operating the facility in July under a yearly contract.
The state is expected to resume control by December.
Both the state's Office of Youth Services and the company said the decision to end the contract was "a mutual one."
The two parties said the Aug. 31 breakout was not the key factor in the termination of the contract but said the escapes brought up issues that both sides could not agree upon, including the improvement of facility security after the escape. Two of the 10 girls who ran away are still at large.
"Both parties agree that for a partnership like this to work, long-standing systemic issues must be addressed first," the state agency and the company said in a joint statement.
Dan Watanabe, director of development and external affairs at Child & Family Service, said a detailed transition plan is being developed by state and company officials, and said his organization "does not rule out a future partnership in providing services to youth-at-risk."
The termination will be the state's second unsuccessful attempt to privatize its girls correctional facility. The state hired a private contractor in July 2001 to operate the facility, but that contract was discontinued as well, Chandler said.
"We've always believed the girls needed different kind of services than the boys. That's why we have attempted to bring in these private contractors," Chandler said.
She said she was not sure if the state would seek another private contractor.
Chandler and Watanabe said another issue that led to the termination was the request by the state to increase the number of security guards since the breakout. At the time of the escape, only two private guards were on duty.
The girls ripped telephone wires from the wall, took the guards' radios and keys, and fled in a van, police said. Security at the girls facility has been increased since, state Office of Youth Services director Bert Matsuoka said earlier this month.
After the breakout, Child & Family Service officials suggested that their contract with the state would have to be renegotiated in order to comply with the state's request to increase the number of security guards at the site.
"I think there were some concerns about the security arrangement," Chandler said. "Child & Family Service expressed concerns if they were properly prepared for the youth they were dealing with there. And doing our own evaluations, the contract didn't seem to be meeting our objectives."
Since the breakout, the state said it resolved the issue of control and storage of security keys at the dorm-like setting where the girls live. Last month, Matsuoka said that at the time of the escape, the girls knew the keys were kept behind a door in the living-room area of the cottage.
Chandler admits there are serious challenges in bringing in a private organization to run the girls facility, something the state has considered since 1993. But she added "the intention has been to design something to meet the girls' special needs."
State officials have also said the girls may have been testing the limits of the staff of the private company. They said the girls involved in the breakout apparently had planned the escape for a while.
"It can be a very tricky thing; one day it's seven girls, the next day it's 15," Chandler said yesterday. "The other difficulty, of course, is reaching these youths."
