Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 September 2009 — Most wahine prisoners return from Kentucky prison [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Most wahine prisoners return from Kentucky prison

State investigates sex assault allegations By Liza Simūn Public Affairs Specialist The state Department of Public Safety last month announced a plan to remove most Hawai'i women inmates from the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Kentucky, where claims of sexual assault by employees are under investigation by Hawai'i and Kentucky authorities.

"The safety of our prisoners is of paramount concern to us," said Tommy Iohnson, the department's deputy director. "With the state's investigation ongoing, it would be prematine to comment further on oin decision to make this move." Iohnson said the state's $3 million contract with Otter Creek's operator, Corrections Corporation of America, expires in October. Iohnson said a yearly $59 million contract to keep men in two other CCA prisons on the U.S. continent would not be affected. At an Aug. 18 legislative hearing, Iohnson and DPS director Clayton Frank told officials that 40 of the 168 women at Otter Creek had already eome home and that all but a few serving lengthier sentences would return by the end of September. Those remaining on the continent would likely be placed in West Coast facilities, they said. OHA's 2006 Native Hawaiian Data Book showed that Native Hawaiians accounted for nearly half the Hawai'i prisoners sent to the eontinent, mirroring over-representation of Native Hawaiians in the state's incarcerated populahon. Lawmakers critical of the state for shipping imnates to CCA facilities said the return of the Otter Creek

inmates addresses concerns for safety and out-of-state expenditures during the current eeonomie downturn. "Most of all, we've been particularly concerned about women, who would be better served in Hawai'i," said Sen. Will Espero, ehainnan of the Senate Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee. "Most of them have children who ean be part of their rehabilitation. We know that family support of women offenders helps keep families on track after women complete their jail terms." DPS began exporting prisoners to the continent in 1995 to alleviate prison overcrowding in Hawai'i. "There is no rationale for spending milhons on prisons out of state, when we ean use the money here for intervention and re-entry programs and alternatives to incarceration - such as electronic monitoring for nonviolent offenders," said Espero (D-'Ewa Beach, Lower Waipahu). "These are measures that will help reduce costs by ultimately reducing Hawai'i's imnate populahon." Continental incarceration is also being scrutinized in an OHA-eon-vened study on the disparate treatment of Native Hawaiians in the state's criminal justice system. The study, created under an OHA-spon-sored legislative resolution and eonducted under contract with the Justice Policy Institute, will report how Hawaiians fare relative to other ethnic groups in areas such as prosecution, judge andjury decisions, and access to rehabilitation programs. "In looking at Otter Creek, one recurrent theme is that Hawaiian families have undue worry about loved ones who are thousands of miles away in a plaee that doesn't understand our cultural norms, including the role of 'ohana in helping to rehabilitate women," said Kat Brady, coordinator the Community Allianee on Prisons, a Honolulu group that is providing input for the OHA study. Attorney Myles Breiner said he was representing three Hawai'i inmates who elaim they were victims of sex assault at Otter Creek. As KWO went to press, Breiner was traveling to Kentucky to investigate claims of at least seven Hawai'i women inmates still in custody there.

The seven allege that they were sexually assaulted by the same guard at Otter Creek. Breiner said the guard has been fired and is facing sexual assault charges, a development that Breiner says should eoneem DPS: under Kentucky law, sexual assault of an imnate is only a misdemeanor, while in Hawai'i the same crime brings more serious felony charges. Breiner said if the women pursue a lawsuit after exhausting all required administrative remedies, their case should be adjudicated in Hawai'i. "Any contract between CCA and Hawai'i requires that any issues arising from contract violations be pursued in the First Circuit Court in Hawai'i, so that they are properly prosecuted under Hawai'i law," Breiner said. At least three of the seven women are Hawaiian, Breiner said. He said Hawai'i's female prisoners who are sent out of state are "exceptionally vulnerable" to abuse. "They are cut off from their families and the only people they ean turn to are the very people responsible for assaulting them. So it is a case of fox guarding the hen house," he said. Brady said CCA's laek of transparency about sexual abuse by guards has been especially troubling for the Hawai'i relatives of Otter Creek inmates. Brady said several imnates have indicated that they face reprisals from prison authorities for speaking out. Jennifer Brislin of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said, "The department takes the allegations of sexual abuse by prison guards very seriously." The department has hired a monitor at the Kentucky prison, she said. "We believe (the new monitor) is a seasoned professional, familiar with the operations and functions of a medium security prison and he will know what changes to make," Brislin said. Brislin said Kentucky decided to extend its contract with CCA to operate three prisons beyond an upcoming expiration date for another 60 days. Brislin said Kentucky's CCA employees are held to the same standards as pubhc prison employees in the state. "CCA offers many good programming options not available for prisoners elsewhere in Ken-

tucky," said Brislin. Kentucky has 13 state and five federal prisons. Brady claims CCA has violated its Otter Creek contract with the Hawai'i in incidents brought to the state's attention several years ago. Brady said that as the contract was being finalized in 2005, she sent DPS information on an E. eoli outbreak at Otter Creek that went unaddressed, and a report by Kentucky authorities indicating that Otter Creek's warden at that time failed at a Florida facility to investigate reports of prison officers' sexual attacks on inmates. A 2007 report by the federal Bureau of Justice shows sex assault by CCA employees is rampant, and that "DPS should have exercised more oversight," Brady said. She said CAP is calling for an independent audit of CCA prisons. According to Louisville's Cou-rier-Journal, at least five Otter Creek See 0TTER CREK on page 24

1^1 www.oha.orii/kwo NŪHOU ■ NEWS

Sen. Will Espero, the chairman of Senate Publie Safety and Milifary Affairs Commiffee, soys Hawūi'i's women prisoners would be better I served in Hawai'i prisons, I where they ean have the I supportof theirfūmilies. I - Photo: Lizo Simon

Kat Brady of the Community Allianee on Prisons, says Hawūi'i relūtives of Otter Creek inmates are especially troubled by Corrections Corporation of America's laek of transparency ūbout ineidents involving sexual ūbuse by guards. - Courtesyphoto

OĪĪEH CREEK

CūūtiūūEd fram pagE II workers - including the ehaplain - have been charged with having sex with imnates in the last three years. The newspaper reported this summer thatafter an Otter Creek guard was convicted of the rape of a Kentucky inmate at Otter Creek, CCA officials filed a motion to overturn the conviction, on the grounds that the inmate did not follow reporting procedures. In a report by the Honoluhi Advertiser, DPS director Clayton Frank told lawmakers that many of the Hawai'i women held in Kentucky did not want to return home, because they felt they benefitted from job-training and education programs that are absent in isle jails. At the August hearing, Johnson said the cost of housing women inmates is $58 a day at Otter Creek, including education programs and transport to and from the facility, compared to an average of $84 in Hawai'i. In July, Johnson was part of a state team

appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle to investigate the Otter Creek allegations. "I did review the scope of services as part of the investigation," Johnson said. "If we find that CCA violated any portion of the contract, we do have options at our disposal." Johnson said a Hawai'i contract monitor has been placed at Otter Creek and will remain until all the Hawai'i imnates are removed. Johnson said the expiration of the CCA eontract for Otter Creek in October will free up money to cover the cost of the transfer and an additional 100 beds at the federal detention facility will house the imnates without overcrowding the Hawai'i state prisons. "Unlike other jurisdictions, Hawai'i has not built a new prison in 25 years, yet the inmate population continues to climb," Johnson said. "When inmates were sent (out of state), our prisons were bursting at the seams. The contract (with CCA) was not by ehoiee, but that doesn't mean imnate safety wasn't any less of a eoncern for the department." A 2007 study by the Private Corrections Institute found the Otter Creek staff undertrained and paid far less than Kentucky State prison

workers. The study says Kentucky's eheap labor market and tax incentives have enabled CCA to run low-cost facihties that are appealing to other states like Hawai'i, where bed space is at a premium and unionized labor pushes up costs. Espero said one way to keep inmates in state is to keep Hawai'i Island's Kūlani Correctional Facihty open. The state announced Kūlani would be shut down in October due to a budget shortfah. "Some of the programs at Kūlani have been shown to be very successful in reducing recidivism," he said. CAP's Kat Brady said that sending women prisoners to Otter Creek does not effectively address their most eommon pathway to crune. "Most of the women are in prison for druginvolved crunes, she said. "The majority are non-violent offenders. (With adequate programming), they ean be returned to the eommunity with little or no supervision." DPS officials could not say when their investigation of Otter Creek would be made public. For information on OHA's study on the disparate treatment of Native Hawaiians in prison, visit capitol.hawaii.gov/. Click on Status and Documents and enter HCR 27. ■