Posted on: Saturday, August 28, 2004
Youth facility under probe
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into conditions and possible constitutional and federal law violations at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta notified Gov. Linda Lingle of the investigation in a letter last week. Acosta said if violations are found at the Kailua facility, the department would provide "minimum measures" needed to remedy the violations.
Acosta's letter to Lingle did not say what led to the investigation, but said the department was "obliged to determine if there are systemic violations of the Constitution or laws" in the conditions at the facility.
The investigation comes on the heels of a scathing report by the American Civil Liberties Union of allegations of rape, brutality and crowding at the facility. The report, which was released in August 2003, was critical of the facility's living conditions and programs, as well as the treatment of the wards by some adult guards.
Last month, former corrections officer Li'a "Oli" Olione was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of the sexual assault and terroristic threatening of a teenage girl at the facility.
Lingle said she welcomed the investigation and said the federal government can expect full cooperation from the state. Lingle told Acosta in a letter last week that improving the facility is a priority and that she has appointed First Deputy Attorney General Richard Bissen to help with the improvements.
Bissen said yesterday that he was not surprised by the investigation because of the recent negative publicity at the facility. But he said improvements are ongoing and investigators will find a better facility than what was reported last August.
"They're going to rate us based on the condition of the facility when they view it," Bissen said.
"A lot has happened in a year and we were in the process of doing this before we received this letter last week and we will continue to make improvements."
He said the population in both the boys' and girls' facilities has been lowered, there is a new administrator at the facility, and female guards are required on every shift in the girls facility.
Lois Perrin, ACLU legal director, agreed that there have been some improvements at the facility. But she said the state is still falling short of meeting the needs of wards.
"Although there has been some progress, the majority of the changes that have been made have been made only in the recent months and have really addressed short-term conditions," Perrin said. They include placing books rather than Bibles in cells and allowing wards to make more than one phone call per week.
Perrin said the facility must still address long-term problems of staffing, adequate services, and lack of programs and a grievance procedure.
"Those are long-term areas where HYCF still needs to work on and HYCF can greatly benefit from this investigation," she said. "Justice doesn't enter into the decision to launch investigations lightly. The fact that they have done so indicates that there are very serious concerns about the conditions out there."
Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025.
