HAWAII: Union Shielding Child Molesting Prison Guards since 2003

SA: Investigators working in the Hawaii correctional system were able to substantiate more cases in which corrections staff sexually abused inmates during 2015 than cases where inmates sexually assaulted one another, according to a new report released by the state Department of Public Safety.

That report marks the second consecutive year the corrections system reported it had substantiated more sex assaults of inmates by staff than by other inmates….

The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed to address sexual abuse and sexual harassment in prisons and jails, and Hawaii’s facilities underwent audits from 2013 to 2016 that concluded all of Hawaii’s eight correctional facilities under the Department of Public Safety comply with the 2003 federal law.

The one exception is the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua, which houses juveniles. HYCF is part of the state Department of Human Services.

Keopu Reelitz, public information officer for DHS, said in a written statement that officials at the youth prison have been consulting for the past year with the United Public Workers union about the effect of the PREA requirements on union members.

The union has accepted a state policy dealing with PREA but is still consulting with the state on issues related to training required by the federal law, she said.

Among the changes the state must make at HYCF to comply with the federal law are upgrades in the youth prison’s video surveillance system, she said. Reelitz said the department expects HYCF will finally meet the requirements of the federal law next year.

(NOTE: The privately-run prison in Arizona is in full compliance with PREA and has been since the beginning.  Therefore anybody calling for return of prisoners from Arizona is advocating increased sexual abuse of inmates.)

read … Staff abuse outnumbers inmates’ for second year

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