Youth prison making progress, officials say
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
State officials told lawmakers yesterday that the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility is moving away from its troubled past and that the state is doing what it can to improve living conditions for the 67 juveniles housed there.
But an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has threatened to sue the state as a result of allegations including rape and abuse on the part of corrections officers, as well as crowded conditions, said reports of wrongdoing by guards have come in as recently as several weeks ago.
After the ACLU issued a lengthy report last summer criticizing the facility's operations, the attorney general's office brought criminal charges against two guards at the facility who will stand trial separately in the coming months.
The priority for the Office of Youth Services, which runs the Windward O'ahu facility, is "to improve the management and practices at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility to achieve national standards," according to executive director Sharon Agnew.
"I know we're not there — we're far from it today — but we know that it's achievable," she said.
Agnew told a meeting held jointly by the Senate and House Human Services committees that since the allegations of wrongdoing were made public in August 2003, the facility's separate populations of boys and girls have declined more than 20 percent — from 91 juveniles to 67. Additionally, the facility's administrator has been replaced, management practices have improved, and facility assessments and interim policy changes have been put into place, Agnew said.
First Deputy Attorney General Richard Bissen said state attorneys are continuing a criminal investigation into wrongdoing, while Agnew said she also has an internal administrative review ongoing. Both also said ACLU officials were granted access to the facility and the wards as they have conducted their own investigations.
ACLU attorney Susan Dorsey told reporters that progress has been made. She credited Agnew with reducing the population of the facility and said she looks forward to working with the facility's newly hired administrator, Kaleve Tufono-Iosepha.
But Dorsey said several weeks ago police were called to investigate charges of abuse against wards by corrections officers. Some guards under suspicion of wrongdoing have continued to work when they should be placed on leave, she said.
"They were signs of encouragement from Sharon's presentation but it's important she get the resources to implement her vision," Dorsey said.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
