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ACLU Urges Governor to Break Stalemate Over Brutal Conditions
at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility
June 14, 2004

Honolulu - Ten months after exposing the brutal and unconstitutional treatment of children at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility (HYCF), the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i (ACLU) has discovered that the Office of Youth Services (OYS), which has oversight of HYCF, authored a document that confirms the existence of all but two of the ACLU’s stated concerns. The ACLU charges that OYS Executive Director, Sharon Agnew, has derailed a collaborative effort by closing the doors to any discussions with the organization about reform. The ACLU today urged Governor Lingle to address the unabated conditions at HYCF and move State discussions back on track.

OYS has repeatedly refused to respond to ACLU calls and requests for information about its concerns in a cooperative effort to avoid litigation. In the past week and a half, OYS cancelled a conditions assessment of HYCF (which was scheduled for June 21st, 2004), one which the ACLU considered critical and a major step toward reform, and caused a member of the expert panel for the upcoming training at the Stakeholder Meeting to resign. OYS’ actions have now left the State without a confirmed plan or even a commitment for swift reform at HYCF.

“The children and families involved in the ACLU’s August 2003 report have been waiting almost a year now for the State’s response, and many more children incarcerated at HYCF continue to suffer from the acknowledged but uncorrected deficiencies in conditions and practices,” said ACLU legal director, Lois K. Perrin. Perrin stated “we have been working in a good faith effort for months to bring about needed change and avoid a long legal battle. Instead, we have been excluded from every opportunity to have our concerns addressed. We are hopeful that the Governor can correct this course for the sake of the children placed in the State’s care. ”

Since the ACLU’s report on August 14, 2003 very little has been done to rectify the unduly punitive and unconstitutional living conditions. In some cases, HYCF still houses three children in an 8X10 cell, which results in two children sleeping on the floor, one only inches from the toilet. The cells are stark and bare because all personal items including pictures of family, books, letters and writing materials are forbidden in the cells, and in some cases guards continue to enforce regulations with excessive and abusive force that have required medical treatment. Cooperating attorneys in this matter are Paul Alston and Mei-Fei Kuo of Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing.



Related Information:
June 14 letter to Governor Lingle
Report of Findings and Recommendations on the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility
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