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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 4:37 p.m., Friday, October 28, 2005

State opens youth home on Big Island

Associated Press

HONOKAA — The state today opened a group home on the Big Island's Hamakua Coast for nonviolent youthful offenders as an alternative to the much-criticized Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility on O'ahu.

The Ke Kama Pono (Children of Promise) Safe House is operated by the Salvation Army and will initially house as many six girls from 13 to 17 years old. They will be offered such services as counseling and drug abuse education, state officials said.

"Ke Kama Pono is an important step toward increasing the availability of community-based alternatives to placement at HYCF," Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said at today's opening. "Today we celebrate the establishment of an appropriate, caring and rehabilitative environment to address the needs of these youth."

The state's troubled youth prison in Kailua is the target of several civil rights lawsuits and has come under criticism from the federal government. Last summer, the U.S. Justice Department released a highly critical report that said the young inmates' constitutional and federal statutory rights were violated at the youth prison. The Justice Department described the Kailua facility as "existing in a state of chaos."

The new facility, the first of its kind in the state, gives priority to Big Island youth, particularly on the Hamakua Coast.

"Placement on their own island will help to ensure that these youth can be visited by their families, and the program can work with them and their families together to pave the way for their return home," said Sharon Agnew, executive director of the Office of Youth Services.

The safe house is located on state land in a building that underwent about $60,000 worth of renovations, the Department of Human Services said.

A competitive bidding process was used by the Office of Youth Services to select the Salvation Army to run the program, and the contract to operate Ke Kama Pono is estimated at $650,000 a year, the department said.

The state is looking at other sites where additional safe houses might be located, it said.