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| Group Targets Conditions At Youth Prison |
| By KITV |
| Published: 01/12/2004 |
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The ACLU and a statewide network of community and government groups last Tuesday joined forces to try to improve conditions at the overcrowded youth facility. The Hawaii Youth Prison is under criminal investigation for possible mistreatment of youth prisoners and under threat of suit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Youth Prison is seriously overcrowded. The boys' facility that is built for 30 now houses 70 to 80 young offenders. Youth prisoners have told investigators of cruel punishment. A former officer was arrested for allegedly raping a teenaged female inmate. The coalition of community and government groups announced they are forming the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project to address the problems at the youth facility. The ACLU has threatened to sue if conditions don't improve at the youth facility but it is hoping this collaborative effort will work instead to make needed changes at the youth prison. The ACLU said up to 85 percent of the youth prisoners should be placed in community treatment centers instead of the youth facility. "The experts are telling us the vast majority of kids in the facility deserve to be in community placement and would be thriving in community placement and would be able to reunite successfully with their families and come back into the community and be productive," ACLU Director Vanessa Leong said. The coalition will work with the state to try to divert money now spent on youth incarceration to community treatment. The ACLU said it will hold off on its law suit until it sees how well the coalition does during the upcoming legislative session in its push to reduce youth prison overcrowding. |
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