Improperly Detained Prisoners Recieve $1.2 Million from Hawaii

In February 2001, a jury found Gregory Tapaoan not guilty of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and threatening her with a gun. But instead of being released and allowed to join relatives in the courtroom gallery, Tapaoan was handcuffed, shackled and taken back to O'ahu Community Correctional Center. There, he was strip-searched and jailed for two more days. The verdict "was like a whole world being lifted off my chest. And then going back into handcuffs and shackles, I couldn't understand." In those days, defendants, even if they were acquitted, were returned to prison for processing and released only after officials got the paperwork from the courts. But after Tapaoan and other former prisoners represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit, the state reviewed the procedures. Today, defendants acquitted of all charges are released in the court. Yesterday, Tapaoan talked about his ordeal as volunteer ACLU lawyers Mark Davis and Susan Dorsey announced a tentative settlement with the state that provides $1.2 million to Tapaoan and as many as 500 others who were held from December 1999 to December 2002 after they were due to be released. It likely will take months before any money is paid from the $1.2 million settlement for defendants improperly detained after their acquittals or others held after they were supposed to be released, volunteer lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday. The settlement must still be approved by the federal court, but U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi has granted preliminary approval. She will hear the case on April 26. Davis said the settlement money will be distributed to claimants based on $1,000 for each day they were improperly detained and $3,000 if they were strip searched. [more]