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Hawaii
Settles Gay Youth Lawsuit
by
365Gay.com from the Web, May 17, 2006
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Honolulu, Hawaii, May 11 --
The state of Hawaii will pay $625,000 and change policies a youth prison to
settle a lawsuit brought by three LGBT former inmates who suffered prolonged
abuse at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.
The agreement, between the state and the ACLU, which represented the former
inmates, must be approved by U-S District Judge Michael Seabright. Under the
agreement the state does not admit wrongdoing.
Last month Seabright ordered the state to establish specific policies to protect
LGBT inmates from discrimination, harassment and abuse. He also told the
state to hire a private consultant to oversee changes at the facility in Kailua.
A separate agreement reached in February with the Justice Department also forces
the state to improve conditions for gay inmates at the prison.
The three LGBT teens, represented by the ACLU, outlined widespread abuse at the
facility.
Their suit said that youth correctional officers routinely told a lesbian ward
and her girlfriend that their relationship was "bad" and that they were going to
hell and referred to the couple's relationship as "this butchie shit."
Other guards routinely made lewd and humiliating remarks to the couple,
including, "You two eating fish earlier? At least you're not
finger-banging yourselves in the TV room."
Male wards in the facility allegedly surrounded a teen who was perceived to be
gay in the shower, threatening him with rape, and once rubbed semen into his
face in the bathroom. When the young man reported the incidents, HYCF did
nothing the suit claims.
Last April, according to the lawsuit, the head administrator at HYCF called a
special meeting of all the girls and staff at one of the units in the facility
for the specific purpose of singling out a lesbian couple to belittle them about
their relationship. The administrator told the couple that their
relationship was "disgusting," then required the other wards to create a list of
rules for the couple; the wards decided that the girls shouldn't be allowed to
even speak to each other under threat of disciplinary measures, including
lockdown.
In another instance cited in the suit, a male-to-female transgender student was
repeatedly verbally abused and preached to by guards who called her "wrong" and
"unnatural" and threatened to cut off her hair. After she was transferred
to the boys' unit, she was physically assaulted and groped, often in front of
guards who did nothing. Rather than attempting to ensure her safety, HYCF
segregated her for almost two months, and did not allow her to interact at all
with other wards.
A doctor at the facility testified that after LGBT inmates brought their
concerns to him he wrote letters to administrators about the incidents, but
never receive replies.
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