[ OUR OPINION ]
TRANSFERRING the girls' section of the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility to a nonprofit organization versed in dealing with troubled children made sense. However, the organization's inexperience with prison environments may have enabled 10 girls to escape from the facility. Government officials familiar with prisons should provide more oversight, at least in the early stages of the transition. Youth prison needs
government oversight
THE ISSUE Ten girls escaped from the privately operated Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua.
The escape is not a major setback to the movement toward privatization of some government services. It should provide some lessons about the pitfalls of transferring some duties from government to private employees.
Child and Family Service, the nonprofit, has gained a distinguished reputation through more than a century of providing human services in Hawaii. Its many programs include services for abused and at-risk children and those in need of adoption and foster-home placements. The organization was assigned by the state Office of Youth Services about two weeks ago to operate the girls' section of the Youth Correctional Facility.
Early Saturday afternoon, several girls at the Kailua facility put into operation a well-planned escape. They apparently first cut the phone lines to prevent staff from calling for help. Then, while one girl asked a male guard for a pain reliever and he began fetching it, other inmates overpowered a female guard. Ten of the girls, ages 14 through 17, then escaped in a Child and Family Service van, using keys they found for the van and the front gate. Seven girls who had shared a cottage with the escapees remained at the facility.
Private and state employees plan to meet this week to "find out what needs to be done to avoid this from happening again," said Bert Matsuoka, executive director of the state Office of Youth Services. "Obviously, there are some glitches. There are some bumps that need to be worked out."
One of the problems may be that Office of Youth Services guards had been trained as counselors, not as prison guards. While social work is an attribute for dealing with incarcerated youthful offenders, some training as guards should have been required before the transition.
State officials also might take heed of professionals in the field of juvenile detention. The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators recommends "an appropriate blend of both public and private services" in the operation of youth correctional facilities.
"Both public and private entities involved in services to young offenders must work cooperatively to assure the strongest continuum of care possible," the council advises. "Government has the responsibility to see that privatization does not replace their legal duty and liability but rather augments it and improves upon it."
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