Negotiators review findings at youth facility

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

State attorneys and U.S. Department of Justice investigators are reviewing preliminary findings about problems at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility, where substandard conditions have been alleged, and are starting negotiations aimed at fixing those problems.

The investigation is at a sensitive stage, said state Attorney General Mark Bennett, who asked lawmakers to cancel a public briefing about the facility that had been set for last Friday at the State Capitol.

"I didn't think that while that (negotiation) process was going on, it was in the state's best interest to have a public briefing," Bennett said. "But we also offered to provide the legislators, in executive session, any information they need."

Two Justice Department investigators and two independent juvenile justice experts from Washington, D.C., were at the facility Oct. 4-8 to determine whether the constitutional rights of wards are being violated. The probe was initiated under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.

The investigation follows an August 2003 report by the American Civil Liberties Union that alleged rape, brutality and crowding at the Windward facility, criticizing its programs and the way some adult guards treated the wards.

State Rep. Michael Kahikina, D-44th (Nanakuli, Honokai Hale), said lawmakers also became concerned by the recent transfer of female wards to a Utah facility while improvements are being made here.

Kahikina heads the House Human Services and Housing Committee, among those who had planned to hold the briefing that was canceled. Kahikina said he had hoped to get a status report on the youth facility between now and the election but agreed to call off the session at Bennett's request.

"I'm caught in the middle here," Kahikina said.

Richard Bissen, first deputy attorney general, said that the federal investigators have sent a report giving "preliminary thoughts and ideas, on if they want us to take a different course." He declined to discuss the specific findings but said they have sparked discussions that will lead to an "action plan" aimed at bringing the youth facility into compliance.

The current round of discussions is aimed at charting a course toward that action plan, evaluating some improvements the state officials have considered on their own, Bissen said.

"What complicates some of this is we were doing things before (investigators) got here, following recommendations from others," he said.