Posted on: Friday, June 18, 2004

EDITORIAL
Youth prison review should include ACLU

The state has taken an important, and we hope sincere, step toward improving conditions at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility by calling together a task force of national experts on youth justice to advise on so-called "best practices."

The experts have been meeting with local officials in a workshop setting to come up with reforms and changes in the way the youth facility is run.

This workshop is a direct outgrowth of a report prepared last August by the American Civil Liberties Union that made serious allegations of rape, brutality and overcrowding at the youth facility. The ACLU report was prepared, commendably, with the cooperation of the state.

Indeed, the Lingle administration reacted swiftly to the ACLU's original report, reassigning an administrator and another official pending further investigation.

Given that background, we are mystified that the ACLU will not be part of this week's workshop. State officials say they want participation limited to the national experts and local "decision-makers and policy-makers."

Fair enough. But it is a plain fact that it was the ACLU, not the current crop of policy- and decision-makers, that turned up information that led to this workshop.

The state argues that the current leadership of the ACLU is new to the job and may not be up to speed on the details of last year's report. That doesn't cut it.

To this point, the Lingle administration has been up front about wanting to deal with problems at the youth facility rather than ignoring them or attempting to cover them up.

By shutting out the folks who brought this matter to the public's attention in the first place, the state raises the impression, fairly or not, that there indeed might be something someone wants to hide.