Questions to ACLU met with silence
By Vicki Viotti and David Waite
Advertiser staff writers
With another guard indicted in the investigation into the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility, former ACLU-Hawai'i legal director Brent White refused yesterday to name the young offenders who have brought accusations against guards.
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Attorney Jeff Harris told the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board that it would take a court ruling to compel White to answer questions about the substance of his investigation at the youth facility.
Brent White won't name the young offenders who have accused guards at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility.
The United Public Workers union, which represents youth corrections officers at the Windward O'ahu facility, had hoped to force White to name the youths who accused guards when interviewed in June and July by White or his associates. UPW attorney Herbert Takahashi argues that the accused guards have a constitutional right to know who their accusers are.
Labor board chairman Brian Nakamura has said he and board member Kathleen Racuya-Markrich believe that the board's priority should be to protect the "identity and the safety" of the youths interviewed.
White's findings included reports of rape, brutality and crowded conditions.
On Sept. 16, guard Li'a "Oli" Olione was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury on 10 counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping, terroristic threatening, extortion and criminal solicitation. He is accused of raping a girl at the facility on June 14 and 15. The girl is between 14 and 16 years old, the indictment said.
On Tuesday, guard Myles Manlinguis, was indicted on charges of intimidating a witness on Sept. 16. According to the indictment, Manlinguis "used force or directed a threat" against a youth at the facility who he believed would be called as a witness, said Dwight Nadamoto, deputy attorney general.
Nadamoto said yesterday that no other indictments of guards are pending, but did say that an investigation by the attorney general's office into operations at the facility is ongoing.
Nadamoto said he did not know whether Manlinguis was among 13 guards at the youth facility who were identified as troublemakers in a copy of the ACLU report that was given to Gov. Linda Lingle. In late August, the governor reassigned the facility's administrator and a corrections specialist.
The labor board ruled on Tuesday that White won't have to name those who accused the guards but will have to provide other information as long as it does not violate the "attorney-client privilege" between the American Civil Liberties Union and the youths.
However, Harris said that any discussions with or letters from wards of the youth facility would be covered by that privilege.
After the hearing yesterday, Vanessa Chong, executive director of the local ACLU office, said: "The ACLU has no intention of disclosing the names of the sources or information that by context would lead to the sources being identified."
Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach Vicki Viotti at 525-8053 or at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.
