Guards' union targets ACLU
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
The union that represents guards at the Hawai'i Youth Correction facility is trying to force the legal director of the local American Civil Liberties Union office to submit to questioning about the ACLU's recent investigation of the youth facility.
In addition, the United Public Workers Union wants ACLU legal director Brent White to turn over documents he collected during the agency's investigation into the alleged mistreatment of juveniles housed there.
Gov. Linda Lingle in late August reassigned the administrator and a corrections specialist, pending a state criminal investigation in response to the scathing ACLU report that alleges rape, brutality and crowding at the Windward facility.
On Sept. 3, UPW lawyer Herbert Takahashi filed a "prohibited practices" complaint with the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board, contending that Lingle and state Attorney General Mark Bennett, as well as youth facility administrators, violated terms of the union's labor agreement with the state by allowing the ACLU to interview youth facility inmates.
The ACLU report includes allegations against 13 "youth corrections officers" represented by the UPW.
At a hearing yesterday, Takahashi sought permission from the board to subpoena White and take a deposition from him before he leaves for a teaching job in Thailand and Japan.
"This is an attempt to harass the local ACLU for speech critical of union members," White said after yesterday's hearing.
"The ACLU has every right to investigate conditions at Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility. It would have been irresponsible for the state not to respond to the inhumane conditions we discovered. Had the state not responded, we would have had to file a lawsuit," White said.
The ACLU has until Oct. 6 to file a request with the labor board asking that the subpoena be set aside. A hearing on the request is set for Oct. 7. If the board refuses to rescind the subpoena, White is scheduled to be questioned Oct. 8, before he leaves for Asia.
Vanessa Chong, ACLU executive director, said the agency is considering all of its options.
"We have no intention of turning over any information that would put our clients in danger and place them into the hands of the very guards who are alleged to have abused them," Chong said.
Bennett also criticized the union's actions, saying the state "had every right" to allow the ACLU to interview "wards of the state" housed at the youth facility. "The concern of everyone should be the well-being of the children at Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility," Bennett said.
Takahashi did not respond to a request to comment.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
