The investigation comes a year after the ACLU found teens were kept in adverse conditions
The U.S. Department of Justice has started a civil
rights investigation of the state's troubled youth prison in Kailua,
state officials confirmed yesterday. "In conducting the investigation,
we are obliged to determine whether there are systemic violations of
the Constitution or laws of the United States in the conditions at the
facility," said a letter that Gov. Linda Lingle received last week.
"Our investigation will focus on protecting residents from harm." The
agency did not disclose what prompted the investigation, but said if it
finds violations, it will give the state "detailed, written findings
and identify the minimum measures we believe are necessary to remedy
the violation" and see what financial, technical or other federal
assistance is available to help the state correct deficiencies. The
federal investigation comes a year after the American Civil Liberties
Union, in cooperation with the Lingle administration, inspected the
Hawaii Youth Correctional Center in the summer of 2003, resulting in
the report of the rape of a female inmate and allegations that
teenagers were kept in crowded, unsanitary and brutal conditions. [more ]
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