Posted on: Friday, September 17, 2004

Girl inmates shifting to Utah

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Up to seven girls in custody at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility will be transferred to a juvenile detention facility in Utah for 60 days. State officials said the move will allow it to address a staffing shortage and crowding at the facility.

"We have to address the crowding issue," said Sharon Agnew, executive director of the Office of Youth Services, the agency that oversees the facility. "This is not intended to separate children from their parents for very long."

The transfer will also give OYS time to repair a building at the site that could be used to house wards, Agnew said.

Meanwhile, all of the girls have signed a grievance stating they don't want to be transferred, said Lois Perrin, legal director for the Honolulu office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Perrin said the girls and some of their families were notified yesterday.

"These problems are now forcing the state to send our kids to Mainland facilities," Perrin said. "That kind of physical distance will make it more difficult for kids to reunite with the community and their families."

Perrin said the ward transfer illustrates the crowding at the facility and the lack of alternative programs in the state.

Agnew said the transfer was not the first option. She said OYS tried to place the wards in community programs on the Neighbor Islands. But some of the wards were deemed too high risk to interact with the community, and others ran away before eventually being re-captured.

"We have to do something for them (the wards) while providing for the public safety at the same time."

Girls are scheduled to leave for a facility in Salt Lake City next week, Agnew said.

A cost estimate was not available yesterday.

The move comes a few weeks before federal investigators arrive on O'ahu to start inspections at HYCF, which is the subject of a civil-rights violations probe. The civil action is not a criminal probe, but instead is aimed at finding whether the constitutional rights of wards are being violated. Investigators are slated to start their work in Honolulu during the first week of October.

The investigation comes a year after a an ACLU report detailing allegations of rape, brutality and crowding at the facility.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.