Youth facility investigated
| • | Conclusions in report by ACLU after visits, interviews |
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday reassigned the administrator and a corrections specialist at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility pending a state criminal investigation in response to a scathing report alleging rape, brutality and crowding at the Windward facility.
Advertiser library photo
The 34-page report by the American Civil Liberties Union, compiled with cooperation of state officials, found that there was "a pattern of egregious conduct and conditions at HYCF that violate minimum professional and constitutional standards."
Gov. Linda Lingle said the "report's conclusions are too serious to leave the current management in place."
In reassigning Mel Ando from his job as the top official at the facility and Glenn Yoshimoto from his corrections specialist position, Lingle said the "report's conclusions are too serious to leave the current management in place."
Lingle replaced Ando with Jim Propotnick, who served as interim public safety director and recently deputy director of state law enforcement. Ando and Yoshimoto have been assigned to other duties and could not be reached for comment yesterday.
"It's clear the facility needs a complete overhaul," ACLU legal director Brent White said.
The HYCF houses about 70 boys and 20 girls in facilities separated by Kalaniana'ole Highway in Kailua.
The ACLU report was based on interviews with about 70 youths at the facility and information from on-site visits June 3 and July 23 of this year. The report said inadequate training and Ando's supervision of staff contributed to the problems.
According to the report, the girls' facility only has three female guards and no women guards are on duty overnight and at other times. In 2001, two guards who allegedly sexually assaulted youths were transferred to the boys' facility, the report said.
White said one girl reported being raped last month. Also, girls reported that male guards sometimes make comments about raping them, according to the report.
The ACLU became involved with the facility after receiving a letter from a youth that was smuggled out by a "sympathetic guard" describing abuses at HYCF, said White. He added that ACLU also got a call from a guard at the facility a few days after receiving the letter.
White reported the complaints to Attorney General Mark Bennett's office. The attorney general sent investigators to HYCF but reported back to ACLU that there were no major problems. Bennett, however, gave ACLU authority to do its own on-site investigation.
The state is conducting a criminal probe into abuses at HYCF as well as looking into other problems at the facility, said Bennett.
White praised the governor's response to the report as a good first step.
"It shows she read the report and is as disturbed as we are," White said. "It's refreshing to get action than stonewalling."
Other problems noted in the ACLU report included excessive confinement to cells; lack of privacy at the girls' facility; lack of exercise and recreation time; inadequate schooling and lack of access to education; unreasonable limitations on outside contact with families, friends and attorneys; inadequate medical and mental health care, and a "completely defunct" grievance process."
The report also listed 47 recommendations, including the adoption of a population cap by requiring the automatic release of juveniles to alternate placements anytime the male population exceeds 30 or the female population is more than 20.
Also legislation is needed to prohibit confinement at HYCF for juveniles charged with nonviolent crimes, the ACLU report said.
The report also recommends doing away with room confinement and physical force as a means of managing the facility and not placing wards in lockdown for periods longer than 24 hours.
At the girls' facility, the report encourages investigation and prosecution of sexual assault complaints involving guards and also that one female guard be on duty at all times.
| Conclusions in report by ACLU after visits, interviews:
The American Civil Liberties Union with the cooperation of the state visited the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility on June 3 and July 23, inspected the facility, interviewed the director and met with about 70 juveniles in custody. Among their findings: • CROWDING The secured boys' facility at HYCF was designed for about 30 boys, but on July 23 there were 70. Records show the facility regularly houses more than 70 and hardly fewer than 60. • LIVING CONDITIONS In what ACLU calls "unduly punitive living conditions," boys have been locked in bare cells for up to 18 hours or more a day. Boys are not allowed to have anything other than the clothes on their backs, bedding and a Bible. • BRUTALITY Guards "persistently used excessive physical force" against the juveniles, creating a "general atmosphere of fear." The problem seems to be created by "lax supervision of the guards," lack of discipline for improper or abusive action, and poor training for guards. • GUARDS One guard whose name was not released was described by the juveniles and staff as physically abusive and as an individual who seems to "delight in using violence" against the youths. He was placed on administrative leave before for use of excessive force, but was allowed to return to work and continues to have contact with youths. He believes he is "untouchable." The guard beat a 13-year-old on May 30. Another guard, who was characterized as one of the "most violent and abusive," slammed a boy's head into a concrete bed and punched him in the face several times after the youth complained about not having any juice. The report did not mention whether this guard was disciplined. Other incidents cited in the report included a guard beating an inmate while staff members looked on, other acts of violence by guards on inmates and a female guard who beat several girls and kept them in lockdown until their injuries healed. • SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT With only three female guards at the girls' facility, the report said, inmates complained of a lack of privacy, and sexual harassment and assault. In 2001, two guards who allegedly sexually assaulted youths were transferred to the boys' facility. Girls reported that male guards sometimes make comments about their breasts and about rape. • LACK OF RECREATION AND EXERCISE At the time of the July 23 visit, the boys had not had recreation time in more than three weeks. Guards had told the boys that "eating and brushing their teeth counted as recreation time." • INADEQUATE ACCESS TO SCHOOLING The ACLU said the facility "blatantly violates" laws requiring that it provide adequate schooling to each inmate. Inmates are not required to go to classes and guards often deny schooling as punishment. • INADEQUATE TRAINING OF STAFF HYCF staff appears to be inadequately supervised and are assigned to positions for which they are "obviously unfit," the report said. The staff also is not disciplined for abusive behavior or the use of excessive force. — Curtis Lum The complete report is posted on the Web site for the ACLU: www.acluhawaii.org. |
